Tali's Tale
by roughdiamond5
Summary: Sequel to Our Genie, Rina and Free Rina. This is the flock's kid's POV of what happened when their parents got together, how they made it happen, and what happens when you make one little mistake. I'm no good at summaries, please r & r! CHAPTER 13 UP!
1. Chapter 1

**YAY, I'm finally writing the third one! I can still remember how thrilled I was when you guys said you wanted this, so I'm running on that for now. And also, everyone owes Katie-3llen so much it hurts because she convinced me to write the plan in school (everyone was giving me weird looks but then again they always do that when they're not ignoring me) and also to update tonight! I wrote this part like an eternity ago and just adjusted it a bit, so I suppose you're all lucky. But this is going to be so much fun!**

**Oh, and in case you haven't figured it out I regained control over everyone at the end of the interview.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Max. I don't own anything that came from her books. I don't even own an iPod! But I own this laptop, these headphones that I'm listening to my Phantom of the Opera CD on, my story notebook, and my beloved OCs and plots! Yes, I said plots, as in more than one. I have more ideas than Rina! But I'll write some more when this is done. But that's an eternity from now. Yay, the rambling's back! Well, on with the story then. Enjoy, my good friends!**

**Intro**

You may think that this is a story that's all about the world-saving flock and their ex-genie, Rina. I'll tell you right now that you're wrong. Well, you're not entirely wrong, but still, to some measure, that isn't correct.

You see, this isn't ALL about them. Sure, they're pretty important, but some other people have a lot to do with this story. C'mon, you can guess who they are! They were mentioned in the last Our Genie, Rina story. Not a lot, but they were there. They were part of the ending, and Iggy and Rina learned a lot about them, but you still don't know the full version of their story. That's why I'm here. To give you the full version.

Not ringing a bell, huh? I'll give you another hint. Their parents may have saved the world, but they saved their parents from that nasty Ari 2. Well, they saved Iggy and Rina, anyways, but Ari 2 could have killed the rest of their parents too! And of course, they also saved their parents from themselves. But you didn't know that.

Still nothing? Or maybe you do know. But I'll give you one more hint anyways. I'm their leader.

Oh, now you get it! Wait, lemme hear your answer, just to check. No, this isn't Jake, weren't you paying attention to the last story? Jake or Newt could have been the leader, since they're the oldest and all, but they didn't want to, and they weren't up to it anyways. So I took it. That's right, I'm Tali. And I'm here to give you OUR version, the FULL version of Free Rina. You heard our parent's version, but there's a lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes that you didn't know about. I suppose you want to know what happened after the flock overheard us using our real names and calling them our parents? And what happens when you don't personally get your family together, anyways?

Look, I'm not any good at intros. I guess what I'm trying to say is that some really cool stuff is going to happen in this story, and I don't think you want to miss it. If you do read it I can promise you more details, more weird facts (including facts about the future and stuff, I mean does anyone know if we have anti-gravity over here?), more explanations, more humor (I guess, that's probably dad and Newt), and dare I say it, more romance. Especially between me and (gulp) Jake. Hehehe, Newt owes me a quarter, he bet I wouldn't say there was romance between me and…me and…oh well, he's not paying me to say it twice!

So what do you say, are you in? Yes? Excellent!

Welcome to the next generation.

-Tali

* * *

Yeah, I agree with Tali, she's not very good at intros. Newt here, I saw this paper on her desk and thought I'd add something. I guess she's finally decided to write it all down, all the things we've been through. I think it should be recorded myself, even though I know I won't forget what happened to us. It's too strange and weird and cool at the same time, who could possibly forget it? How would you feel if you traveled back in time with your sister and your best friends to see your parents just slightly older than you? And it's also death not to be able to tell them who we are. We can only ask them how they like their Coke.

But the thing is, you don't know what that's like, unless you know someone who's a genie or part genie. So we're writing it all down for you, I guess. Wanna know what it's like to have the flock as your parents, to travel back in time to see them, and pretend you have no clue who they are? This is the story for you. Of course I'm only advertising this story because Tali promised me a share in the profits, but still, it's something you might want to think about reading.

-Newt

* * *

What they said.

-Jake

* * *

Oh, good, Tali's writing it down! And since we saw Newt and Jake write some other words on here, we figured we can write too. Syd's holding the pen (because we're not stupid enough to use something Tali can erase later) and I (Shell) am telling her what to write. So here it is. Why does it have to be Tali's Tale? We better be getting a POV in this somewhere. Go ahead and read it if you want to, it's nice to have all those things explained about the last story, but we're just in it for the profit, like Newt.

-Syd and Shell

* * *

Hi, Zak here, and I can't believe someone's writing it all down! But Tali could have told us she was writing it, and if she didn't want us to see what she was writing she could have hid it instead of having it flat out on her desk like that, I'd use that safe I got for Christmas if I were writing something because I'm really bad at writing since I ramble a lot so maybe I'll make Tali write my POV for me, that'll be fun because my hand won't throb like it does now and Tali will make me sound smarter although I don't know why she'd do it because if she says yes to writing one more thing for me then I'm just going to live with her and make her write everything for me because my hand hurts from writing so much because I'm rambling and I'm going to stop writing now because my hand hurts. Read the story!

-Zak

**Pointless intro, I know, but I felt like adding a hook. Patience, my readers, just scroll down and you will see chapter 1!**

**Chapter 1: The Ever-So-Hated Recap (I know, we all hate these, but I just think I ought to put one in here! Sorry) **

**POV Tali**

I lay in my bed, reading so I would be tired when I turned out the lights, when my window opened and two girls crawled in. It was two twin girls, both with brown hair and brown eyes. They were identical in person, but not in spirit. The one on the left, I know, was strong, a good fighter, and quick to defend, just like her mom. She was also good with computers, like her aunt. Her twin, on the other hand, got the sweet, helpless side of her mom. She was sweet, kind, and tough when she had to be. She also played the piano while her sister was learning to fight. But despite these differences, these sisters were the best of friends and liked to gang up against their brother. Their names were Syd and Shell.

"Hi Tali, we just came to say goodnight." Syd said.

"Can you tell us a story tonight? I'm not tired." Shell requested.

"Okay. What do you want to hear?" I asked. Don't say parents, don't say parents!

"I wanna hear the story with our parents!" Syd said. I sighed. Better not deny them their story, or they'll stay with me all night.

"Fine." They grinned and sat on either side of my bed. "Once upon a time there was a flock. Max was the leader of the flock, who could fly at the speed of light and hear a voice in her head, and she had a right-hand man named Fang. Iggy was the second boy, who was blind, followed by Nudge, dubbed "the motormouth" who could also touch where a person has been and instantly know all about them, Gazzy, who could imitate voices, and his little sister, Angel, who could read and control minds, breathe underwater, and talk to fish. This flock was created with wings by whitecoats for a very special reason. Max and her flock were going to save the world." The twin's eyes widened at that part, even though they had already heard this story a zillion times.

"Max didn't want to save the world, though, so she and the flock kept running away. They were in Virginia when Iggy and Gazzy, the bomb experts and partners in crime, blew up the community iPod. Max got mad, and after yelling at them, she took them to

Radio Shack, where they found a slender white iPod. They downloaded their songs on it, and Iggy tried to play it, but a genie popped out of it instead of songs!

"The genie introduced herself as Rina, and she told Max that she was going to help Max save the world. She told them to go to Seattle, and they flew halfway there and stopped at the Great Salt Lake. Iggy and Rina got together and used her powers to get Max and Fang to admit that they love each other, and while they were kissing-" the girls giggled "-Iggy and Rina walked and talked. It was enjoyable for both of them.

"Later that night, Angel and Nudge woke up Rina and asked her to take a walk with them. While they were walking, Angel and Nudge told her that Iggy loved her, and she should do something about it. At the same time, Gazzy woke up Iggy, said that Rina loved him, and he should do something about it. Iggy developed a sort of plan, and asked Rina to take a walk with him. He took her to the cliff where Max and Fang had talked, and asked her to give him his vision back. She asked-"

"Tali?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we fast forward? We've heard this part already. Can you get to the more recent part?" Finally, they're sick of it!

"Okay. So after they all saved the world, they found their parents. Angel and Gazzy's parents were poor people who had to give them up for money. Nudge had two really nice parents and a little sister who never wanted to give her up. But Nudge was kidnapped, so they never got to know her. Max, Iggy, and Rina knew their parents already, so that left Fang. Fang learned that his dad was Charlie Denton, the richest man in the world. He offered his son and his friends a home, even though he knew about their wings and their powers."

"And then what happened?" the girls asked together. It was kinda cute how their eyes were so wide even though they could tell the story back to me in perfect detail.

"Not a lot. Everyone but Rina got personal servants, so they were pretty much spoiled. Then Fang and Iggy talked, and they decided that Fang would ask Max to marry him if Iggy asked Rina after their wedding. So Fang proposed while the rest of the flock watched, they had a wedding, and then Iggy proposed to Rina. But right after they were engaged a letter came to Rina from the genie government. It told her that Ari 2, her worst enemy, was wished free and was looking for her and Iggy. So the couple decided to be on the move until their wedding, and they went to visit their parents and tell them about the engagement.

"When they were at Rina's house, Rina's dad saw a gang of flyboys headed their way, so Rina's mom sent Rina with her little sister, Gina, and Iggy with Rina's older brother, Matt, to hide while her parents and the flock fought the flyboys. Iggy and Rina got back to the house in time to see Ari 2 threaten them, and Angel almost died, but everyone was okay, and they had the wedding.

"However, right before the wedding started, Iggy disappeared. Rina found out that Ari 2 had him locked in the cellar with one of the servants that tried to defend him, and she went down to save them, only to get her powers shorted out. Then she was beat up seriously by Ari 2, and right as he was about to kill her, the personal servants blew up the doorway and saved her just in time. They used powers to save her, and they made Rina and Iggy forget about what happened, but Rina still remembered, so after the wedding the servants told her that the six of them were actually the kids of the flock, but she couldn't tell anybody."

"Hey guys!" the window slammed behind Zak, the youngest of our little group. His blonde hair was messy, as always, and his blue eyes twinkled as he flopped onto my bed and interrupted the story. "Whatcha doin'?"

"SHH! Tali's telling us a story!" Syd and Shell said at the same time, like they always do.

"Ooh, I wanna hear, I wanna hear, keep talking!" Zak said in one breath and wiggled closer to hear me better. I sighed, and resumed.

"So after she figured out that the servants were actually the kids of the flock, Max announced she was going to have a kid. When he was born, they named him Jake, and he was officially the heir to the Denton fortune because Mr. Denton died and made Fang the owner of Microsoft."

"And what was Jake like?" Zak asked smugly. Little demon, he just wanted me to describe him without blushing!

"Uh…well, he has black hair like his dad, but he got blue eyes from his grandpa, Jeb. His wings are a perfect black with a bit of his mom's brown mixed in, and he got his mom's power of flying at really fast speeds. And he learned to be silent and dark, like his dad. But unlike either of his parents he likes to skateboard, and he won't stop listening to rock music. There, happy?" I glared at Zak, who cackled and motioned for me to go on.

"Then six months Rina had two twins, Newt and Tali. Newt was born first, and he has blonde hair and blue eyes, like his dad Iggy, except his hair is more of a dirty blonde. He has his dad's wings and half of every power ever imagined. In fact, he and Tali were the first genie twins in history, and no one knew what would happen with twin genies, but apparently each twin got half of all the powers. Tali, aka me, has the other half, and you all know what I'm like, so moving on-"

"No, Tali!" Syd exclaimed.

"You have to tell us about everyone, including you!" Shell told me. Great, just great, they want me to describe myself. How the hell do I do that?

"Uh…I have brown hair with red highlights and blue eyes just like Rina, my wings are just like Iggy's, I love to read, I'm the leader, and I have half of every power ever imagined. Okay? Okay. Then when Jake was two and me and Newt were one and a half you two were born." I patted Syd and Shell's heads.

"Syd, you've got brown hair and brown eyes, like a combination of your mom and dad, Shell, you look the same as Syd, you both have wings like your mom and dad mixed together, and you can fly at supersonic speeds. Syd, you like to fight and work with computers, and you're the oldest twin. Shell, you're the youngest, you like to play piano, and you're kinda like your Aunt Angel which figures because you hang out with her a lot."

"Syd and Shell were one and a half when you were born, Zak." I kicked Zak in the knee because that was the only part I could reach. "You had blonde hair and blue eyes like your dad, Gazzy, and you had really, really tan skin like your mom. And you talk like her too, like a motormouth. You can imitate voices like your dad, and you can also touch things and know all about the people who touched them, like your mom. Plus you can play the drums. And that's what the flock's kids are like, and that's what happened to the flock. The end." Syd and Shell were already half asleep on my shoulders, and Zak was drooping a bit, so I rose and dragged them out of my bed. "Goodnight guys. Get a lot of sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow."

"What're we doin' again?" Zak slurred sleepily.

"We're going back in time to see our parents."

"'Kay. Night Tali." Everyone murmured as I led them to the ladder out my window. That's how they managed to get to our houses so quickly, because Newt and I have ladders hanging from our windowsills.

"Night, guys." I waved after them as they sagged back to their house to get in bed. Maybe I should go check on Newt? He should be back from saying goodnight to Jake about now.

"_We were just talking. Wanna say goodnight?_" I would have gotten a heart attack from Newt's sudden response if I weren't so used to it by now.

"_Sure. Tell Jake I said goodnight and sleep well._" A second or two later, he responded.

"_Jake says ditto._"

"_Tell him I can feel his enthusiasm from here._"

"_How about you tell him yourself? I only do one goodnight for free and then you have to do it yourself._"

"_Fine, make some space._" Well, now's as good a chance as any to get a look at Jake. I poofed myself from my room to Jakes, which looked very messy, with clothes thrown every which way and the lights all dim. Jake and Newt sat cross-legged on the bed, facing me.

"Congrats, Jake, I think you finally drove the maids out." I said sarcastically as I looked at the sock hanging from the ceiling fan.

"Yeah, Rose and Em quit." A smile quirked across Jake's face, and all of a sudden I couldn't tear my face away from his. I love that smile so much, even if it shows up for a fraction of a second. His hair tossed so wildly on his head made me want to stroke it and mess it up a bit more. And his eyes…I'm not even going to start on them. The guy I knew since I was born, and I had to like him. Go figure. I'm not even sure I like him, I mean it's not like I'm going to go up to one of my friends and rattle off my symptoms and ask if I like him because they'd think I was insane. I practically live with this guy, we do homework together! How could I like someone I've seen my whole life?

"I could feel your enthusiasm from over there when you said ditto." I tried to remember how to speak with those eyes like ice cooling my blush.

"Yeah, but that's Jake for you." Newt smirked.

"Night then." I said sheepishly. Man I hope I didn't sound too silly!

"Night." Jake said simply and lay down on his pillow. Was this a good sign? Maybe he just didn't have anything else to say?

"Can I have a lift back?" Newt asked.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled at Jake, and then we were back in our own bedrooms. I sighed, then flopped down on my mattress. One more night of sleeping in my own bed and then we go back in time. That's kinda strange.

**POV Jake**

I am SUCH an idiot. Why did I only say six words to her? She might think I didn't want to talk, and then where would I be? Dang it, Jake, think when you're around her!

I punched my pillow into a lump. Why couldn't I think with those crystal eyes staring at me, and that hair blowing in some unseen breeze? Why was it impossible to form more than a few words when she just made some clever remark? Why did I get the vibe she'd never like me as more than a brother? Newt kept saying I needed to make a move, but he never said how. I felt just like dad did when Iggy told him he needed to propose to Max and wouldn't say exactly how.

But Tali…she'd never like me that way. Not when she's too busy taking care of Zak for a night or practicing fighting along with Syd or listening to Shell practice piano or dueling with Newt. She'd be too busy to notice the way the dark guy drools in the corner when he sees her in school. I'm surprised she doesn't even have a boyfriend yet.

How could this happen? A girl I've spent all but six months of my life with and I had to fall for her. We grew up together, I saw her best and worst moments and she saw mine. We went to school together, and we were in all the same classes. I say goodnight to her every evening before bed. You'd think seeing a girl too much would make you sick of her. But I've never gotten tired of seeing her.

Maybe there'll be an advantage on this trip we're taking tomorrow. We're going back in time tomorrow to get our parents together, and as servants I doubt we'll be in separate rooms. Maybe she'll see. Maybe I'll drop just a few hints. But if she doesn't like me back…

No. I won't let that happen. Even when we're breathing each other's air I won't show a single clue. Because if she doesn't like me it's going to hurt. A lot. So I play it cool. If she lets me know, fine, I'll do the same. If she doesn't…well, I won't get hurt. In the meantime, we've got some parents to get together.

**We all know pretty much everything in there was pointless, but it was enjoyable, right? I thought some Jali would be fun to write anyways. Please, review and tell me how I'm doing on my first chapter!**

**Oh, and a few things in the story Tali was telling might seem wrong, but hang on with me, it's all part of the plan!**


	2. Departure

**Okay, so thank you Green.Winged.Mistress (aka Katie-3llen) and S.L. Michaels for your lovely reviews! I don't have much to say expect that you guys are lucky I love this story so much because two of my friends played keep-away with the magic notebook that holds all of the plans for every fanfic idea I've ever had (I know, I'm still kinda mad at them for that), and if I were sane I would have let them have it but I love this story so much and I wanted my plans because I was working on them so I fought like hell for it and the lunch monitor had to come over and tell me to shut up and tell them to give it back and feel guilty about doing such a mean thing to me (needless to say they felt nothing but disappointment that their game was over). I'm still mad at them for that so maybe I'll channel my anger and frustration into my writing. Hehehe, now I sound like the Phantom of the Opera! Oh well, we get it. **

**Disclaimer: mine, mine, it's all MINE! Not exactly. I own the plot and some of the characters but I don't own Max or the flock. And I own the notebook (take that, thieves!) so no stealing that or the ideas from that. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 2: Departure**

**POV Tali**

It was midday in the courtyard of the Denton mansion, and our families were gathered with me, Newt, Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak to say goodbye. I was with my family near the concrete stand that was surrounded by flowers, and my mom was currently strangling me with a hug.

"Bye, sweetie. Be safe, and be careful! I don't want something bad happening to you while you're away. And don't let it slip unless it's me!"

"I know, mom. We'll be good, I promise! Everything will be all right." I tried to comfort her and increase my chances of her letting go of me.

"Yeah, mom, and if we mess up we can fix it!" Newt added.

"But do you have control of your powers enough to fix whatever happens?" Mom never stops worrying. How can someone be able to go into the future and still worry about it?

"Because I don't always look into the future." Mom answered my thoughts. "Newt, I can still somewhat hear your minds, you might want to adjust the block."

"Yes mom." Newt didn't even flinch, but we trusted him anyways. He had a way of doing things without moving, which I had just barely mastered. Mom always said I was younger and I would need to take my time with these things, but I was only born a few minutes later! And Newt would be a genie, like mom, if it weren't for me being born!

Right, about that story, I guess I owe you the full version. There isn't such a thing as twin genies, but apparently when your dad is part human then you can be a twin. So when me and Newt were born we were media stars, just like Jake was when he was born because he's the heir to the Denton fortune and all. The Genie Government wanted mom to send us to them so they could study us, but mom and dad fought to keep us in their care (something about growing up in a stable home with two parents instead of something like the stupid School dad lived in) so we grew up at home and mom and dad just have to send reports every month about who got which powers and how fast we're developing. But that was when we were born.

Back to now, Newt dutifully took a turn being suffocated by mom, which left me and dad. "Bye dad. I'll miss you!" I gave him a hug of my own, and I felt his breath leave. Oh yeah, dad wasn't as strong as mom. Sure, he's stronger than most humans, but not as strong as mom, since she has all those powers. I always forgot that, but I loosened my grip, and he hugged me back.

"Bye Tali. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive. There's not a lot to do around here, and I want to see you guys back then! Plus mom said that if we don't do this, the future would be different, and I don't really want to see just how different it'll be."

"Well, okay, if you really want to." We let go, and I studied his face one last time. He had blonde hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes, like Newt's, that hardly showed that they were blind in the first place. I turned to look at mom, with wavy brown hair with red highlights, slightly tanner skin, and deep blue eyes that dad always loved.

"Is there anything we should know, like something we're supposed to do?" I asked mom.

"No, not really, but everyone's going to be suspicious of you, especially me. You can tell me, but not anyone else." Mom answered.

"Okay then we should probably get everyone together and leave. Enjoy your week without kids!" Newt told them.

"Fine, enjoy your time without parents!" Dad told us.

"Do you really have to do this? Maybe you should just go to a few points in time and make sure everything's going smoothly and then come back home in a day or so?" Mom asked.

"But where's the fun in that? C'mon mom, we'll be fine. What could possibly go- ow!" I elbowed him before he could finish his sentence and mom could figure out that a lot can go wrong, and then she'll never let us leave. It's not that we don't love our mom and dad, it's just that it'll be so fun to know more about everything then they do! I mean, come on, how many kids get to meet their parents when they haven't even married yet?

"Yeah Rina, let them go. It might be interesting to have them be in our past." Dad soothed mom. But Newt made a "yuck" face when they looked at each other, so something was up.

"_What's with the face?_" I asked him in my mind, which he could still read, thankfully.

"_Let's just say they've got big plans when we're gone._" Okay, maybe I should have asked. Eww! Quick, gotta find Jake…and everyone else too maybe. We backed away and went to go hunt down Jake, Syd, and Shell, who were with their mom and dad over by the fountain. Jake looked bored watching his mom smother his little sisters, and his eyes lightened up just a little bit when he saw us. Or maybe it was when he saw me. Or maybe I was just dreaming and he only wanted to see Newt. But my eyes could have exploded from pure pleasure just seeing him leaning on the stone wall with his dad, so casual and so self-guarded at the same time. He was so mesmerizing to watch.

"And practice those moves a few times a week, okay? You'll never know when you'll need them since we won't be there to protect you." Max was too busy prompting Syd and Shell to notice us. I'm pretty sure you people know Max as the fearless leader who saved the world. But strangely enough, we know her as a perfect mom and role model! I'm not sure how it happened, but she seemed to be somewhat used to being a mom. Maybe it's because I helped her as they grew up.

"In all technicality you'll be there, Max, you just won't really feel a need to help us." I informed her, and she looked up and smiled.

"Ready to go, then?" she asked.

"Yeah, we'll need to be borrowing your kids for a week or so." Newt said.

"We're coming. Bye mom, love you!" Syd and Shell said simultaneously, wrapped their arms around Max's neck, and placed sticky kisses on either of her cheeks.

"Bye Syd, bye Shell, be safe, okay?" Max hugged back and almost squeezed their eyes out. I'm pretty sure Syd wanted to be as strong as that when she grew up.

"Bye daddy." Syd and Shell squeezed their emotionless dad while he just stood, only hugging back a little. Max took her turn with Jake, but only quickly because if she knew her kid he'd be glad to leave when she squashed him a second too long.

"See you later." Fang said simply as the twins let go. Jake and Fang nodded in each other's directions (the silent guy's goodbye), and the three were released to go find Zak, who was being crushed by Aunt Nudge in a corner by some flowers.

"Mom, please, I'm gonna be okay, I'll listen to Tali and I won't spoil anything for your past selves and I'll be really good, just lemme GO!" Zak squealed and tried to wiggle out of her arms, but she just kept constricting.

"My baby shouldn't even go to the past and see what happened back then, you might get hurt or something might go wrong and the past will be ruined and all this won't happen or Ari 2 might get you and his powers might be more than Newt and Tali's and then where would I be without my little boy?!" Aunt Nudge wouldn't let him go, and apparently for good reason. All five of us had to pry her arms from Zak's chest before she recoiled.

"I'll be fine mom. Love ya, miss ya!" Zak kissed her cheek and hugged Uncle Gazzy, who cooperated and gave him a ruffle of his hair.

"Remember, you need to show me the boomer sometime, maybe leave the plans lying around where I can find them, okay?" Uncle Gazzy reminded him, and Zak nodded. Boys and their bombs. I tried not to roll my eyes.

"You'll take care of them, won't you?" Aunt Nudge asked me, Newt, and Jake. I think she was asking about Syd, Shell, and Zak because Syd and Shell hung out with her a lot and she got attached.

"Of course, they'll be fine." I assured her, but she didn't look entirely convinced. "Right guys?" I turned to Newt and Jake for support, and Jake nodded microscopically while Newt just gaped at Aunt Angel, who was talking with Max, Fang, mom, and dad.

"Newt?" Syd and Shell asked, noting that he cocked his head at Aunt Angel.

"Everything okay, man?" Zak asked. Newt heard his voice and snapped his head to face Zak. After studying him for a second, he spun around and marched over to Aunt Angel. We all followed him curiously.

"What do you mean about Zak's real parents?" Newt demanded of Aunt Angel, who cocked her head.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about." she answered.

"No, I heard you. Something about adoption and Zak finding his real parents. What about it?" Newt argued, and Zak turned to Aunt Nudge.

"What does she mean, mom?" Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy shared looks, and then Aunt Nudge crouched down to Zak's level and ruffled his hair.

"Sweetie, you have to understand, we think of you as our son in every way." she began, and all us kids raised our eyebrows. "But you're actually adopted. You were on the doorstep, with a note for me asking me to take care of you. Your dad and I decided to take you in, and we named you and raised you."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Zak demanded, not knowing what to feel. By the looks of it, it was a battle between confusion, shock, and anger.

"We wanted you to think you were the same as everyone else." Uncle Gazzy filled in.

"Oh, sure, because compared to the life he's lived in he'd be nothing but normal." Newt said sarcastically. "Come on, wings? Evil scientists? Clones? Genies? Powers? Adoption is much more normal than what we're used to."

"Plus we didn't know who your real parents were, so we wouldn't be able to tell you much anyways." Aunt Angel added.

"Question, why does he have wings and powers and he looks so much like you two?" I asked. All the parents exchanged glances, then Max started shooing us to an open area.

"Okay guys, you should probably get going now!" she ushered us.

"But-" Syd and Shell protested, but mom cut them off.

"Best to have an early start, I think, so get going and we'll see you on your visit!"

"Rina, I wanna know why I've got wings!" Zak pouted as we were pushed into a circle.

"No, you guys really need to get going." Aunt Angel smiled and waved.

"We'll see you later, okay? Maybe if you're good we'll tell you something." Max kissed Syd and Shell's foreheads.

"Mom, you'll tell them we were good, right?" Newt asked mom. "We all wanna know what happened!"

"Maybe, but now you should probably get going. Tali?" dad queued me to get everyone out of here.

"One question?" I asked and mom sighed.

"Fine. One."

"How did Zak get his wings?"

"I gave them to him." Mom told us, and our eyes widened, especially Zak's. His wings were made by magic? "Now, everyone, good luck, we love you, and remember not to tell anyone but me that you're from the future." We nodded, and our parents waved us goodbye (even Fang). I got one last look at my mom and dad, and then we were gone.

**Look at this sad excuse for a chapter! I don't think it was full enough or eventful enough, so I'm sorry for that. I just need to submit this one chapter tonight, and then things will speed up, I promise! But the more reviews I get the faster the next chapter gets done! So please, make my day and press the pretty purple button down there! Doesn't it look so cool, don't you just want to press it and see what happens? And maybe if a text box comes up (ha, like that's going to happen!) then you could type in it how you felt about this chapter, how much you hated it or how you'd like to see the next chapter! And the purple button that might be at the bottom of the screen that might come up could be pushed when you're done typing, and then I'd be so happy and all because you pressed a few pretty buttons!**

**Uh, in case you're not getting the hint, please review!**


	3. The title's too long to put here

**Aww, thank you so much everyone for your really sweet reviews! And by everyone I mean Evil Angel of DOOM, Green.Winged.Mistress, missCeilidh, DigiNinMon, S.L. Michaels, ghj1, and Bubble Blower. But you get it!**

**And because Evil Angel of DOOM made some very good points in her review, I shall explain. Tali helps Max because she needs to stay in shape so Tali watches Syd and Shell (and sometimes Jake) while Max does her moves, like practicing fighting and stuff. And when Newt was saying stuff about mad scientists, the kids only heard about the mad scientists from their parents, and Tali's the only one who actually saw how miserable her parents were in the School. I mean to say she traveled back in time because she was bored and she saw how sad they were. But none of them have actually been subject to the horrors. Good thing too, or they'd be scarred for life! Well, now that those are hopefully clearer, to the chapter! Enjoy, and I'm sorry the last one wasn't as great as I hoped. Hopefully this one will be better.**

**Disclaimer: Do I own it? Would I even be any more popular if I did own it? Do I even want to be popular? Do you guys care? Do you want me to get the chapter started and quit asking questions? To answer those questions in order, no, maybe, not really, probably not, and hopefully yes. So hot potato, here you go!**

**Chapter 3: I Never Thought the Past Could be so Creepy**

**POV Newt (A/N just for a sec, forgot to mention something)**

"_I wonder if Zak will find his real parents while he's in the past._" What the? What was Aunt Angel thinking about? I ignored the conversation between Zak, Aunt Nudge, and Uncle Gazzy to try and listen in to more of Aunt Angel's thoughts. "_We're lucky he hasn't realized he's adopted, but the poor kid ought to know the truth._" Okay, this is scary. What about Zak being adopted? It couldn't be possible.

"Everything okay, man?" Zak's voice brought me back to my body. I studied him for a moment. He looked too much like Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy. He even has wings and their powers! Saying Zak's adopted would be like saying he's going to ride a flying cow to Pluto and meet Jeb and Anne (who we still hate) for coffee. Time to make sure Aunt Angel isn't insane or anything. I marched over to her, with everyone else at my heels, wondering what I was up to.

"What do you mean about Zak's real parents?" I insisted on an answer in the tone I rarely use, the one that says "give me answers or I kill you with a spoon".

"I…I don't know what you're talking about." She told me, and she blocked her thoughts from me, but that pause was too suspicious. I pressed on.

"No, I heard you. Something about adoption and Zak finding his real parents. What about it?"

"What does she mean, mom?" Zak asked from behind me. And you know what happens from there. Zak finds out he's adopted, we're all weirded out, etc. I guess Zak better find a flying cow, because since we figured out he's adopted anything can happen. Then when we tried to ask more questions, they ushered us to the place where we were supposed to leave, even though we tried to struggle. You chickens, just tell us already! But since it looked like they really meant it and we would have to leave I decided to ask Tali something right after I asked mom if she'd tell everyone we were good.

"_Tali?_"

"_Hm?_"

"_Could you do me a favor and freeze time real quick?_"

"_Uh…yeah, sure_." At that moment the trees stopped swaying, mom's mouth froze, and only Tali seemed capable of movement. She turned to me. "Okay, why the time freeze?"

"I need to say goodbye to someone."

"Lemme guess, I'm coming with you so I can unfreeze the person and you can say goodbye?"

"You're a smart girl, Tali. Come with me." We wriggled out of the courtyard full of people like stone. Usually I'd take the opportunity to make a few funny faces right in front of Jake, curve his lips into a grin, turn him towards Tali, and when I unfroze time he'd wonder why he was smiling at her, but Tali would know what I did to him, and besides, I had to say goodbye. We ambled through the halls full of people, ignoring how funny one servant looked when he was sneezing right when Tali froze him, so his face was all messed up. The doors opened with a squeak, and I turned into the breezeless street, Tali at my heels.

"So what are we supposed to tell this person when we're the only ones able to move?"

"She knows."

"She? You're saying goodbye to a girl?"

"Well, yeah."

"Hehehe, this is a surprise! I never thought you'd like a girl enough to have me freeze time so you could say…goodbye…while time was…_you told her_?!" Great, now she catches on. I was hoping she wouldn't figure it out until we at least got to her house.

"Well, yeah, it's actually kinda nice to have someone outside the flock or Itex know who we really are. And I did a background check on her, she's clean."

"Wait, so you're saying you told her EVERYTHING?"

"Nothing builds a friendship better than trust." I shrugged, trying to make this not sound like such a big deal.

"Newt, did you or did you not tell her about the wings?" Tali stopped my strut down the street and made me face her.

"Why should I-"

"Just answer."

"Yes, she knows about the wings."

"Did you tell her about the powers?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell her who our family really is?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"A few years ago."

"Oh, Newt, you idiot!" Tali turned from me and rubbed her forehead. "Telling an outsider about everything, that's suicide!"

"Well if it's any comfort she didn't believe me until I showed her the wings and demonstrated a few of the powers. And FYI, you're going to have to pretend you can read her mind."

"Finally, you lied about one thing. But why?"

"Well otherwise she'd keep her thoughts guarded."

"And?"

"Then I wouldn't be able to read it correctly."

"And?"

"Look, can we just go and say goodbye to her?" I continued striding down the street without an answer, and took off. There were not air currents to ride, but thankfully there were only a few blocks to her house. Tali and I landed on her doorstep and I unlocked the door. Apparently her mom was busy making a late lunch, and her dad was watching football. We tramped upstairs and opened a door to reveal her, dancing to her iPod in the middle of her room. Tali drew in a breath when she saw the girl I sat with every day at lunch .

"Maddy?! You're here to see Maddy? Newt, you have to be kidding. She could never have known who we are the way she acts!"

"Which just makes her an extremely good actress, doesn't it?" I smiled reassuringly at Tali, and then I went and laid upside down on her newly-made bed so my head was dangling off the side. Tali sat in a fuzzy chair on the opposite side of the room, and then time unfroze in the room and Maddy came back to life.

"Hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend, no way, no way, I think you need a new one, hey, hey, you, you, I could be your girlfr- oh." She was dancing in a circle, her red hair flying behind her, but she stopped when she rotated and saw me. I gave her a lopsided grin, and she blushed, making her emerald green eyes stand out, and took off her earpieces. "I didn't know you were here."

"Well, I only just came here, so I only heard the chorus."

"Don't you usually get in when my parents are asleep?" Behind Maddy, Tali's eyes widened when she used the word "usually".

"Yeah, but at night I wouldn't be here, now, would I?" Maddy cocked her head. "I'm leaving for spring break. I'll have to go in a sec."

"What? Where?"

"The past." Tali answered from behind Maddy, and she swiveled around to see my sister raising an eyebrow, still getting over the fact that I told _her_ who we are.

"Oh, right, Maddy, you've heard of Tali, Tali, you know Maddy. Maddy, Tali unfroze time in this room so we could talk. Tali, you know Maddy knows who we are."

"Right. Hey." Tali nodded with a microscopic smile on her face. Maddy shyly waved back.

"Please don't read my mind too much, okay?" Maddy pleaded. It was kinda funny to watch her ask my sister not to do something she couldn't even do in the first place! I mean, this is Tali, she finds ways to do everything.

"Yeah, sure, I won't. Newt, wanna hurry this up a bit?" Tali leaned back and smirked, ready to see me say goodbye. To a girl. Which I'll never let her watch.

"You know what, Tali, how about you disappear for a while? You know, turn the doorknob, walk down the stairs, go outside, don't try to listen to us or watch us. Go steal the Mona Lisa or something while no one's looking. Relive memories, get background info for our trip or whatever. Just leave, okay?" Tali rolled her eyes and disappeared. I turned to Maddy.

"So what does she mean we're going to the past?" she asked me.

"Well, we're going to go spy on our parents. Like when they were eighteen, before Jake's dad was rich and all that. Before we were born." Her eyes widened.

"Why would you do that?"

"We're getting them together."

"No way!" Maddy squealed. "That's like so sweet!"

"Yeah, but the thing is it might take a while…"

"A while? As in how long?"

"…years."

"Years? Newt, how could you leave for that long? And wouldn't people just notice you were gone or something? We wouldn't see each other until what, high school?"

"No, no, no, I meant years for ME. In your time I'd just be gone for spring break and I'd be back in school next Monday."

"Would you age?"

"Nope. Once I go through the time vortex I get back to the age I was when I left. But still, it'd be a long time for me. Would it be okay if I wrote? You know, just so I'm not completely lonely or anything."

"Aww, that would be nice! But how would you get the letters to me?" I stared blankly at her. Oh crap, I forgot Tali was the only one who could get the letters through time to her!

"Uh…well, your house might be there in the past. I could hide the letters somewhere in your home and you could find them and read them then, I guess."

"That'll work!"

"So would you write back? Maybe I could 'convince' my sister to play post-office." I pointed out the window at Tali, who was sitting under a tree, lost in her own head.

"Of course I'll write! I'll really miss you, Newt." At this point Maddy was on the bed next to me, and out of nowhere she hugged me. And it wasn't one of those friendship hugs she gave to her friends when she said goodbye for the break. It was more like an "I'm going to write you every hour, I'll miss you that much" hug. And I liked it. After a second of adjusting to the fact that she was hugging me (_me_!), I returned the gesture, and we spent some-odd minutes just sitting there. Then a "tap" came from the window, and we turned around to see Tali sitting on the roof, laughing her head off. I thrust open the window, and she became audible.

"Hahaha, you were (giggle) THAT close to going further!" She held her fingers about two millimeters apart and almost fell off the roof from a new wave of laughter.

"Tali, do you mind?"

"No, I don't mind that my brother has a girlfriend! Hehe, Newt, I've never seen this side of you!" Tali just couldn't hold in her snickers, and Maddy raised an eyebrow.

"She's not my girlfriend." I muttered, taking back the words instantly. She _could_ be. But that might not happen for years or so. In the meantime we're just friends. Friends who hug. I've seen girls do it all the time, it's possible to hug and only be friends!

"Oh, but she might be, or oops, did I say too much? I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Tali just couldn't hold it in anymore, and rolled down the roof and was about to smack into the driveway. Maddy was already gasping, expecting to see her with bones broken on the pavement, and I was ready for some revenge, but she caught herself and hung suspended in the air, still laughing her head off. Maddy turned to me.

"Why is this so funny?"

"Because apparently someone thinks I'm incapable of showing affection. Usually I just hang out with Jake and Zak and mess around on skateboards." I grumbled. "Mind if I take care of her?"

"Could you wait one second? I need to show you something. May as well show Tali, too." Maddy motioned towards the door. I would have just called Tali to make her come, but I was feeling show-offish today (or maybe it was the hormones talking), so I spread my wings (to Maddy's delight and awe) and flew down to Tali, scooped her up with my strength, and flapped back up to the window with a laughing sister in my arms. Maddy made some room as I set her on the ground, and we all went down the stairs, where Maddy directed us to the living room.

"Dad's watching football, ignore him." She pointed to her dad, who reclined in his armchair and yelled at the ref. I paid hardly any attention when Maddy opened up the nearby fireplace, but Tali examined him with a look of confusion on her face. "Okay, there's a false stone back here, if you pull really hard- or in your case, Newt, gently-" Maddy beamed at me, still remembering the strength I displayed "-then it'll come loose and you can put anything in the space back there. So we'll leave the letters here and pick them up here too, okay?" I nodded, but Tali just approached Maddy's dad cautiously, like if she dared touch him too fast she'd be electrocuted.

"Tali?" I asked. She shushed me, and then slowly she pulled back Maddy's dad's bangs. After a second she pulled back as if he just bit her.

"Newt, do you know who this is?"

"Yeah, he's Maddy's dad."

"No. He's someone else too, I think. Maddy." Tali's head snapped to her after all that time of never keeping her eyes off of Maddy's dad. "What's your dad's first name?"

"Sam. Why?" Tali's eyes widened to look like dinner plates, and suddenly she went into deep thought.

"Sam, no, couldn't be, but he might have stayed, yeah, maybe settled down, stalked Max, found a wife in the meantime, forgot about Max possibly? Probably, but still, it couldn't be him, could it?" Okay, now Tali has officially gone insane.

"Uh, Tali?" I tapped her on the back, and she swiveled around. "Is your brain finally exploding after all those advanced classes?"

"Ha ha, very funny. No, it hasn't exploded. I'm just thinking."

"Well please, share it with the rest of the class!" My tone was daring her to tell us.

"Yeah, what's so weird about my dad?" Maddy inquired from behind me (I think she didn't want to get close in case she could read her mind when she's closer or something like that).

"Well," Tali turned back for another look at Maddy's dad. "The thing is…Newt, you remember when Max told us about her old boyfriend, right?"

"Yeah, I remember. Fang got really mad at that!"

"Yeah, well, the thing is, maybe Sam missed Max too much?"

"And…?"

"Maybe he decided to come see her…"

"Go on…"

"And be a servant at her mansion?"

"I still don't get it."

"Maybe he settled down and had a kid and her name was Maddy! Come on, Newt, you know you can only do half the background check, you must have missed that her father's name was Sam!" Tali almost yelled as if Maddy wasn't there and looking like she did when I told her I was part genie.

"So? A lot of people have the name Sam!"

"And that's where it went wrong, you'd need to do extra research on him, and you don't even give extra credit math a glance. You'd have to see that he once had a date with a girl named _Maximum Ride_."

"Woah, woah, wait just a sec here!" Maddy interrupted. "So you're all worked up because my dad dated your aunt?"

"Well, yeah, I mean we never knew where he went after Max's date. He could have given info to the School or anything! And Fang would be really mad if he knew one of his former servants dated his wife, I don't think that hate ever left him. Look, we just can't be sure he's safe, this guy was a total mystery to us." Tali concluded as if this made as much sense as the fact that you can't see when you cover your eyes. Maddy and I stared blankly at her.

"Uh…okay." Maddy said. "You're sure?"

"She's always sure." I told her.

"Fine, but does this really mean anything?" she asked Tali.

"Well, I thought it might be good to know that our families have a serious grudge against each other." Tali shrugged. "Consider that when you propose, Newt."

"Who said I'm proposing?!" I exclaimed.

"Me. Are we done yet? I wanna find out the answer to those questions I had about Zak." Good, I didn't have to change the topic.

"Yeah. Bye, Maddy." I gave her a quick hug and unwillingly followed Tali out the door. Looking back as we flew back to the mansion, I saw Maddy waving from her window. We both waved back.

"Seriously, Tali, who said I was going to propose?"

"I told you, I did. Fortune telling powers, remember?" she tapped her temples for emphasis. "So unless the future changes you're all matched up."

"Well since we're messing with the past we might mess something up and she won't be born or something."

"Two bucks says you'll be together." Tali challenged.

"You're on." I agreed, then regretted it instantly. Crap, I just bet against being with Maddy! So I can loose Maddy or loose two bucks. I'd rather loose the money, to be honest. "Hey, while you're looking up the future why don't you see who you'll end up with?"

"Nah, no fun to know. I'd rather know about you two."

"No, seriously, check it out, just a glimpse of you ten years from now, that's it." I tried to get her absorbed in the conversation so she wouldn't try to see any more and hold it against me. Should she remember what she found that is…(insert evil laugh here)

"How much will you pay me to look?" she snapped back as we landed on the lawn and started our walk back to the courtyard.

"How's ten for you?"

"Pay up." She held out her hand, I slipped her two fives, and she closed her eyes for a moment and came back blushing.

"So? What'd ya see?"

"Nothing." But her thoughts said "_Holy crap I'm married_." I burst out laughing.

"You? Married? Never!"

"Hey, there was a wedding ring on my finger, what else do I assume?"

"Well, you're not one for fashion, so it must be marriage or engagement."

"Nope, marriage."

"How come? And to whom?"

"Oh, look, we're here!" Tali exclaimed as we opened the door to the courtyard. "And don't ask again, because I won't tell you."

"You're right, you won't." I agreed solemnly and Tali's eyes widened.

"You are NOT going to make me forget, Newt!"

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Tali." I smirked in false apology. "I'm sure you would have loved teasing me with that info on Maddy." I raised an eyebrow, and she shook her head, a blank look on her face.

"How'd everyone freeze?" she pointed to the frozen flock surrounding us.

"You froze them, remember?" I pretended to be weirded out at my sister's apparent loss of memory.

"Why would I do that? I was just about to find out about Zak."

"Don't you remember? I had to go to the bathroom before the trip and I didn't want to miss anything. Are you okay, Tali?" I looked at her with concern, and I did a pretty good job of it, apparently, because this time I wasn't caught.

"I think." She rubbed her head. "Are you done?"

"Yup, I'm good."

"Okay then, unfreezing time and about to find out about Zak!" She unfroze time, and at the same time I wiped her memory of that last conversation. Hey, better safe than sorry! Besides, she could look back and see I was lying if I let her keep the memory.

"One question?" Tali asked like the last…what was it?…hours hadn't happened.

"Fine. One." Mom sighed.

"How did Zak get his wings?"

"I gave them to him." I played along and widened my eyes. But I could still feel that hug Maddy gave me and those words Tali told me were still ringing in my ear. "_Our families have a serious grudge against each other_." Did this mean I'd hardly be able to see her because of what her dad might be? I don't think I could stand that.

"Now, everyone, good luck, we love you, and remember not to tell anyone but me that you're from the future." Mom reminded us, and then we were gone.

**In the past (A/N yes it was pointless fluff to you, but it's actually important to the plot. Besides, pretty much everything I write is pointless!)**

**POV Jake (A/N because from what I've read from your reviews you guys like his POV)**

Never have I felt weirder than when I went through time. It was like everything was swirling around me in a rainbow of colors, and winds were everywhere, but only for a split second. When it stopped abruptly, everyone's eyes but mine were clamped shut. Newt was standing with his arms crossed, looking like a second ago he had to hold himself together. Syd and Shell were pressed against each other, trying to hold on so they wouldn't fall off, and Zak actually fell over because the winds were so strong. But where was Tali? Oh, right. Attached to my arm. And boy did it feel good.

"Ahem." Newt coughed, and Tali opened her eyes and was ten feet away from me before the little kids even had a chance to look at her. "So where are we, anyways?"

"The past." Tali answered simply, still blushing from when she was holding on to me. In a way I was disappointed that she had to leave, and another part of me was confused as to why she held on in the first place. But as always I kept my emotions hidden in my mind.

"But where are we, like place-wise?" Syd and Shell asked as they peeled themselves from each other.

"Yeah, I mean what's with all the trees? Isn't there supposed to be a mansion here instead of trees and shrubs and dead leaves and- wait, dead leaves, that means that it's fall so now we know what season it is, and the air is all dirty so it's probably in the late past like fifteen years ago or something, but wouldn't it be like fourteen years if we're one year before our parents had us and got married and all that and-" if you didn't think that was Zak you owe me ten bucks. And you owe me another ten if you thought that Syd and Shell weren't the ones covering his mouth.

"Actually, Zak's about right." Tali nodded. "So we're fourteen years in the past, the air is dirty, and we're in the woods."

"Yes, but why are we in the woods?" Newt asked impatiently.

"Well you didn't honestly think I was going to get us right in the courtyard, did you? No, we'd be intruding on the privacy of a very affectionate couple if I did that, and plus we'd be kicked out immediately and then we'd have to creep around the place invisible if we're going to get our parents together." Tali told us.

"So where are these woods we're in?" Zak asked.

"The woods across from the mansion." Tali said.

"There are woods in front of the mansion?" Syd and Shell wondered.

"Yeah, before they cut them down to make space for houses and all that." Tali answered.

"So now what?" I cut right to the chase, and Tali looked down.

"I don't know. Something about getting them together, but I never figured out if we should get close and talk to them personally or just stand back, scavenge for food, and use powers and stuff to spy on them and get them together." Great. Tali has no plan. We're doomed, completely doomed. And we just got here! Everyone stared at Tali, speechless, then Zak perked up.

"I have an idea!" he exclaimed, and we all cocked our heads.

"Well, it's better than anything I've got. Go ahead!" Tali nodded enthusiastically.

"So we take some dirt…" He scooped up a mound of soil from the ground "…and smear it over our faces, and then we tear up our clothes a bit." To everyone's astonishment, he smeared the dirt all over his face and arms, then he started tearing at the ends of his t-shirt. Tali winced and attempted to stop him, but it was useless, because he was already done. "Then we play a game of tag until we get all sweaty and tired. Well, what are you all waiting for?" Zak finally noticed the weird looks we were all giving him.

"Dude, I know you've always wanted to do that, but it isn't going to help us." Newt reasoned with him, but Zak shook his head defiantly.

"No, it'll work! Because if we go up to the security guys they'll see us looking all dirty and it'll look like we haven't had a bath in ages and we'll be all ragged so then it'll look like we need new clothes and we'll be sweaty so it'll look like we walked a long way to get there and we'll be all tired so we'll look like we'll need a place to rest and then if we ask if we can see Mr. Denton the guy can assume we need a job and he'll let us in and Mr. Denton will give us a job if we look like we're orphans who need the money and not rich kids who look cared for! So am I still crazy?" We all stared at Zak for a good three minutes. Finally, Syd spoke.

"That-" Syd began.

"Is-" Shell continued.

"BRILLIANT! Why didn't we think of it?" They finished together.

"Yeah, man, how'd you get such a great idea?" Newt asked.

"I dunno, I just always wanted to wear dirt without mom nagging me and now I have a reason!" Zak shrugged. Either way, we started the face painting. Everyone but me. Why should I cover my face in dirt? The rest of them can look pathetic (well, Tali never looks pathetic, but for some reason other people think so when she's covered in dirt) and I'll just follow, like the rich runaway who bought them food up until that point.

"That's a good idea, Jake, but come on, they're not going to assume you're a rich runaway unless you add a _little_ dirt." Newt argued my mind, and I scowled.

"Come on, Jake, you know you want to!" Syd and Shell added.

"Join the fun!" Zak looked up from his dirt angel (which I think is just a step too far). "Tali, make him join us!" I looked to Tali and gave her a look that said "you do, you die". She stopped rubbing her face in dirt, stood up, and walked up to me until our faces were almost touching. I could smell her scent, like flowers, and the dirt only enhanced the experience. I was lost in her eyes, until I felt her fingers rubbing on my cheeks.

"Tag, you're it!" Tali stepped back and the whole group laughed when they saw my cheeks smeared with dirt! I glared at Tali and scooped up a mound of dirt. Everyone jeered, and Tali lost the smug look on her face and ducked right as I chucked it at her head. Instead, it got Newt, who pegged me in the hair. Eventually the kids came into the fight, and we kept tossing the wet soil until we were nice and dirty.

"What was the next step again, Zak?" Newt asked, eager for the next instruction.

"Start making your clothes look really worn." He told us, and we tore our clothes to near shreds. Newt used his strength to kill the knees on some of our jeans, and Tali made the colors fade so they looked like we wore them every day. "Now let's play tag, Jake's it because Tali got him!" Everyone giggled and ran away from me. I started chasing Tali to get her back, and she ran like a deer through the trees with me at her heels. In the end I jumped forward and tackled her to the ground.

"Tali's it!" I shouted, too caught up in the moment to remember that I don't usually yell. Then I spread my wings and flew up to the tree trunks above, hiding in one of them and watching as Tali got Shell, who tagged Syd, who spread it onto Zak, who began chasing Newt, who flew dangerously close to my hiding place, so I squeezed myself against the trunk and didn't think anything until they passed.

"Ahh." I exhaled softly, and then flinched as someone settled on the branch next to me.

"Relax, I'm not it anymore." Tali said as she draped herself over the tree. The wind tossed her hair as she smiled exhaustedly at me.

"I saw." I replied shortly and watched Newt try to get Zak back.

"Smart plan Zak had. It's a little hard to grasp the concept that we're about to pretend to be orphans in desperate need of a job, but still."

"Servant of my own home, I can see it now." I rolled my eyes, and Tali laughed the laugh I love so much. We sat silently until the sun was overhead and we got really hot, then Tali and I agreed to go hunt down everyone and meet at the mansion.

"C'mon, gotta go." I found Zak and Newt running through the trees near a pond (while Zak was complaining about how Newt has super speed so it's not fair), and Newt skidded to a stop while Zak zoomed right past him.

"Now?" Newt asked as Zak narrowly avoided a tree. I nodded, and they both sighed and followed me to the mansion, where Tali, Syd, and Shell were waiting for us.

"Now let's review." Tali started. "We need to look like orphans, ask for Mr. Denton, and ask for a job. Everyone have enough dirt on them?" We looked at each other and nodded, then we all marched to the guard's desk. Showtime.

"Excuse me, sir?" Tali's voice sounded meek and tired as she addressed the guard's desk. The guy glanced up from his portable T.V (some prehistoric show called American Idol) and nodded.

"What do you need?"

"We were wondering if we could see Mr. Denton." Syd asked him shyly (a new record for her, considering she's one of the boldest people I know besides our parents).

"Please?" Shell added.

"Surname?" the guard hardly looked at us as he took out his clipboard and held his pen out.

"None." Newt told him, and the guard raised his eyebrows. "We don't know, anyways."

"No name, then." The guard jotted without real care of what he was doing. "Reason of visit?"

"Ask for a job, I guess. We just need some help is all." Zak tried to remember how to speak less than three sentences, and he looked eager to say more, but Tali's glance shut him up.

"Fine then, but I'd advise you to turn back now, he isn't a charity. Might I suggest Goodwill?" The guard eyes our clothes and smirked.

"Sir, with all due respect, Goodwill only gives clothes, not money or homes." Newt stated.

"Or food." Zak piped up.

"Right, and food. So we can't really find Goodwill as helpful."

"Fine then, sorry for breathing. And how urgent is this?"

"I dunno, how long would you be willing to wait if you had nowhere else to go but here?" Tali snapped, then recollected herself. "I'm sorry, sir, it's just that we walked a long way to get here and we're a little tired. It's sorta hard to get from one end of the county to the other when you've just run out of money and have to dumpster-dive for your meals. So I'm sorry for snapping, but could you try to get us in soon, please?" Wow. That right there was some of the best acting I have ever seen. Okay everyone, let's give Tali a standing ovation! We all would have looked impressed, but the guard was there and all.

"Uh…okay. Gates opening for six kids who want to see Mr. Denton ASAP." The guard called up to the main building with the phone on the desk and waved us in as he spoke.

"Thank you." Tali gave a watery smile to the guard, and we all hiked up the perfectly-manicured lawn to the main doors.

"Wow, Tali, that was brilliant!" Syd and Shell congratulated.

"Oh man that was awesome how did you think of the dumpster diving on the spot and the walking- oh wait our parents dumpster-dived and if they didn't have wings they'd probably walk so I can see where you got it but still if you didn't say anything like that the guard might not have let us in so great job!" Zak agreed.

"I think you learned something from dad." Newt told her. "He lied instantly too!"

"Thanks guys, but it was just there in my mind. I'm sure one of you would have thought of it." Tali grinned.

"No." I said. "We wouldn't." Everyone agreed, and we approached the doors (good thing I was used to walking up and down it every day from the bus, because that was a huge hill). The doors opened for us, and for once the servants didn't look too happy to see any of us. Maybe it was because we were dirty and smelly and they didn't know who we were. So they stayed a few feet away from us as they directed us to Mr. Denton's office (which we all knew where it was anyways but hey, when in the past, pretend not to know anything).

"Announcing six children." The two guys sneered when they opened the doors and told Mr. Denton who we were. I think they were ticked that we wouldn't tell them our names. Hey, what was I supposed to tell them, my name was Jake Denton, heir to the Denton fortune and grandson of their current master? I don't think so.

"Hello." Came a voice from the armchair by the small fireplace. Sitting there was a man about my height, with black hair just like mine and eyes equally dark that wouldn't portray any emotion. Man did that guy look like dad. And me. I'm looking at my grandpa here! Oh, right, back to what he was saying.

"Well, sit down." He pointed to a couch meant for three people. Tali, Syd, and Shell took the seats of the couch in that order, Newt and I stood behind them (naturally I stood behind Tali just in case), and Zak sat on the floor in front of us.

"So tell me, why have you come here?" Mr. Denton (I never got used to calling him Grandpa) leaned back, ready to listen. "If it's money you want, you may as well leave now. I'm not a charity."

"Sir, we bring you a proposition." Tali began like a businessman. "It's true we need money so we can pay for food and new clothes, and we do need a place to stay. We heard that servants can get lodging, food, and uniforms in exchange for service to the master, which are exactly what we need. So we were hoping if you could possibly give us a job as your servants."

Mr. Denton thought it over, and we watched him. At first he looked doubtful, but then we saw him get more relaxed at the idea of six children growing up working. Sure, child labor laws and all that, but servants employed as adults grow up and pursue more beneficial jobs. With children working, we wouldn't know any better than what we had, and we'd stay for our lifetime. This could be an advantage to him.

"Fine. But I'll need some information on you." He stood up and walked to his shelf, where he grabbed a binder labeled "Servant Info" and set it on his T.V tray. We all glanced at each other. Would he accept anonymous servants? "Names?"

"We'd rather not say." Newt told him, and Mr. Denton raised an eyebrow but didn't complain. He's getting a bargain out of this, so why should he care?

"Fine then. Ages?"

"Guess." Zak said. Holy crap, one word! Is he feeling okay? "Because we don't know ourselves. Might be better if you guessed for us." Never mind.

"I'll just do thirteen for you three," He gestured to me, Newt, and Tali. "Eleven for you two," Syd and Shell, who looked at each other and grinned. "And nine for you." Zak. Wow, he got so close! Except for the fact that Zak's nine and a half, he just got all our ages right. "Since you don't seem to have any place of residence or experience, you're pretty much done. Now, sign here, all of you." He held the papers out to us, and we signed with "x"s. "Nice to have you on board. You will begin in the morning, but in the meantime, Charles will show you to your room." We all looked at each other. That was only too easy.

**There, I updated! You're all so happy. I wouldn't normally update this suddenly, but Green.Winged.Mistress just kept asking me so here you go. Okay, I'm updating already, woman! Hehehe, I'm weird. But please review! And this is a long chapter, which means things are back on track, so celebrate.**


	4. A Deal With the Devil

**Ta da! I'm updating! I figured since I'm home sick today (if you've never heard of getting a headache and a stomachache at the same time you have now) I may as well give you another chapter. So thank you uber-much to all the reviewers, who happen to be Green.Winged.Mistress, DigiNinMon, S.L. Michaels, and Evil Angel of DOOM! It means so much to me, so just thanks a million and you all get pie! Because I don't like pie so you can have mine. And you get an update. Enjoy!**

**(sniff) What's that I smell? (sniff sniff) Could it be? (sniff) It is! It's a songfic! YAY! I figured since I didn't do one last story I may as well give you one early this time. Plus I just sound this song on youtube and it was perfect. It's called "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me)" by Simple Plan (yes, I do quite a bit of Simple Plan, and yet I don't even own any of their CDs!), and I found it on youtube with clips of the Phantom of the Opera (you should be getting the hint that I'm as obsessed with POTO as MR by now!). And unlike my other songfics, the character is not listening to it. In this case it's kinda like background music, like in movies. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: If I really owned Max Ride then my characters would be famous and hopefully somewhat popular. But I don't, so my OCs shall remain almost unknown. Except I might use them for a writing contest, but I'd need to make some major changes and add a plot that doesn't have to do with MR. Oh well, we know I don't own it! But I'm stating very clearly that I DO NOT OWN IT, so I can't be sued! As far as I know (backs away from James Patterson's lawyers nervously). Hope you like the chapter!**

**Chapter four: A Deal with the Devil (A/N FINALLY a decent title!)**

**POV Jake**

When Mr. Denton agreed to our living here, a guy about age 15 walked in wearing black pants and a white shirt (which was the uniform, except the girls wore skirts instead of pants). His eyes brightened when he saw Tali, and I almost growled. That idiot was never going to get her unless he personally murdered me. He beamed a smile that was way too friendly, and his brown eyes glinted.

"Hey, I'm Charles." He introduced himself, and I couldn't help but loathe him when Tali looked a little too long at his golden hair. Pretty boy. "Follow me, please." Charles walked out of the study, and Newt, Zak, Syd, and Shell followed. I stayed behind while Tali added one more thing.

"Thank you, Mr. Denton. We'll try our hardest to meet your expectations." Tali shook his hand, and Mr. Denton quirked a smile.

"You're welcome. With those manners you could work at the doors." He said the last part as more of a reminder to himself as Tali and I left the room. I nodded a fraction of an inch, which Mr. Denton returned, and we caught up with the magical Charles who seemed to grab everyone's attention already.

"I can't believe you guys just came out of the blue, but we're very glad to have some extra help. The cook has been needing assistants for a while now, and we'd appreciate a hand with cleaning up this mansion, so you came at a good time." Charles took a moment to grin at Tali. "But you'll have to learn fast, this place is huge. Took me a week to navigate the first floor. And things move very fast around here, so you'll need to know how to do your chores, and well." He warned, speaking more to the girls than anyone else.

"Why, does a lot go on here?" Newt asked.

"Well, not really, sometimes there's parties and such, but Mr. Denton's business associates often come over so we need to make this place look good for any company that drops by." Charles told us.

"When will we get to eat?" Zak asked.

"Well, you just missed lunch, but dinner for us is at five, so when you're done getting your room set up you can come down and have whatever's ready. I'll even save a seat for you guys." He looked at Tali when he added that last part. Strike one. Thank god she didn't see him more as polite.

"Thanks, that's really nice of you." She thanked.

"My pleasure." Charles beamed. "Now since we don't have any other rooms, you guys will have to sleep in the attic. There isn't a lot up there except storage, and it gets kinda cold, so we'll provide some extra blankets in the winter. And there's some mattresses up there and frames, so you should be all set. But I can't help but feel a little sorry for you since you'll be all cold up there anyways." He sighed. Strike two. You could tell this guy was flirting, it was practically dripping from his words. But none of the others seemed to notice. Maybe I'd tell Newt or Tali when he left. Make that Tali, because Newt would probably go on about how I'm just jealous or something, which I'm not. With Tali, she might actually listen and possibly even agree.

"Here's your room, then. I'll send for some extra things in a second." Charles held the door open for us, and we all walked in. I resisted the urge to give him a death glare that was made especially for him and just ignored him. When the door was closed we looked around at the dusty attic.

"Why didn't we know this was here?" Shell asked.

"Because it's too small to be noticed." Syd answered. Silently we all agreed with her. You couldn't fit an elephant in here, let alone six growing kids. Basically there were three dirt-streaked windows, one at the opposite end of the room and two near the door on either wall. The wood floor was covered with dust and grime, and all the furniture there was was a disassembled bunk bed, a bookshelf, a table, some broken chairs, a wardrobe, some boxes, and a china hutch with broken glass doors. Not the best room in the world, in short.

"So, nice place then." Newt broke the silence.

"Well, let's start making this place habitable." Tali clapped her hands together. "How about we split this attic into two rooms?"

"How do we do that?" Zak asked.

"Use the wardrobe, the china hutch, and the bookshelf as dividers, of course." Tali said like it was the most simple thing in the world. "Jake, Newt, see if you can move them to split this place up. Then we can reassemble the bunk bed and maybe unpack some of those boxes and see if anything good is in there." It went like that for a few hours. We decided to make the side with the one small window be the sleeping space and the half near the door would be the living/dining room. We just needed beds for me, Zak, Newt, and Tali because Syd and Shell got the bunk beds. Then when we were almost done Charles came marching in. Hasn't the guy ever heard of knocking?

"Wow, you guys are doing a great job so far!" He was surprised, apparently. Can't "orphans" be good at organizing? "I got a mattress and a couch for you, they're at the foot of the stairs. Need some help moving them?" he offered.

"No thank you, Charles, we'll take it from here. But could you get us some more blankets?" Tali requested. He nodded somewhat disappointedly and left the attic. Newt and I followed to retrieve the items, and I went a little faster and caught up with Charles in the hallway.

"Oh, it's you! How can I help you?" Charles asked smugly when he felt my presence.

"Know that older girl?" I got to the point.

"The really hot one, right? What about her?" Charles asked all too innocently. Strikes three through fifty three. Before he could even take a breath he was pressed against the wall with me about to snap him arm behind him.

"That's the one. I've got four letters for you. T. G. I. M." I pressed his struggling body harder to the wall and bent his arm with every letter.

"Thank Goodness It's Monday?" Charles gasped. God, the boy's an idiot!

"That. Girl. Is. _Mine_. Not yours. So back off. Got it?" I hissed in his ear. That pervert is _never_ going to get Tali, not in a million years, not for a million dollars, not for the rest of his natural life.

"Yes!" Charles breathed, and I released him. He rolled away from the wall, rubbing his arm where I was about to break it, and looked at me as if I was insane.

"Don't forget it." I growled, and he froze with that "deer in the headlights" look. I lunged for him, and he ran down the hall. Great, my first day in the past and I've already made myself a bully. But he was going to get Tali, so I'm forgiven. Right?

"Right. Clever tactic, and I'm glad you did it before he made a move. You know, you also could have used her name in the spelling, but then again that might blow her cover." I spun around to see Newt leaning against the wall, watching me like he was watching me be smothered by mom a few hours ago in the future (and if that made sense to you maybe you should reread it).

"You saw?" I asked just to be sure.

"Yup. I'm sure she'd be flattered." Newt nodded, and I rolled my eyes. "Help me take up the stuff, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Together we carried the worn blue couch up to the living room (which we declared that Tali should get to sleep on, so she got a room to herself), and then came the queen-sized mattress, which us three boys had to share. Oh goody. Then we realized that it was time for dinner, and we found our way to the dining room (naturally everyone was surprised that we found our way, even though we were new). Charles introduced us to the cook, but otherwise he stayed away completely, which was just the way I liked it. We grabbed our plates and headed back to our room before anyone could ask us our names. Once we settled at the table in our room and started eating, Shell began.

"Tali? Why do we have to not tell anyone our names?"

"Yeah, it's not like they have any records of us now if we use our real names." Syd added.

"Well, even though there's no record on us now, there could be if we use our names. And then our parents would name us something else because the servants, aka us, have those names and they wouldn't want to be copying or anything." Tali explained. "So then our real names would be different in the future."

"Ooh, I wanna be Jimmy! I called it, no one else can be Jimmy but me!" Zak claimed.

"Fine, if you call Jimmy then I get to be Bob!" Newt followed suit.

"Can I ask mom to name me Cindy?" Shell asked.

"Okay, but you need to tell her that I get to be Carly." Syd told her. "Who should Jake be?"

"No, no, no, you're all going to keep your real names." Tali corrected. "But I agree, people will be suspicious if we don't come up with some names or something. We were too lucky to get by Mr. Denton with no names! Any suggestions?"

"We could use the names we just said." Newt shrugged.

"Or we could use our middle names." I suggested.

"Hey, that could work! They're technically our real names so then we won't forget what to call each other, and yet our parents would still want to name us our first names!" Tali straightened up and grinned at me. She thought my idea was good? Sweet!

"Do I have to be Taylor?" Zak whined.

"It would probably be a good idea." Tali told him, and Zak sulked, but agreed.

"Okay, so our names would be Demetria, Dylan, Kyle, Tara, Skylar, and Taylor?" Newt checked.

"Yeah, but I don't wanna be Demetria, I'd rather be Demi." Tali corrected. Demi, that's a pretty name for an equally pretty girl. I like it!

"Fine, Demi it is. Any other objections?"

"I wanna be Skye, not Skylar!" Shell complained.

"Okay, your name is now Skye. And if that's it-" Newt paused here to see if anyone had anything else to add. "Well, we're all set. So our names are Dylan, Demi, Kyle, Tara, Skye, and Taylor. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going for a walk."

"What? Where?" Zak asked.

"Just going to see what all is here that we know of." Newt answered shortly as he headed for the door.

"Okay, but don't be long!" Tali called after him when the door shut. Then Syd and Shell turned to Tali.

"Now what?" I agreed with them whole-heartedly. Newt was always the life of the party, so without him there wasn't a lot to do, especially since servants don't usually have the new PS5 (which doesn't even exist yet) wired to a 52-inch plasma screen T.V, unless Mr. Denton was feeling generous.

"I dunno." Tali answered. "We could see what's going to happen in the future, if you want."

"YAY!" the little kids squealed and gathered around Tali to hear their fortunes. I decided to listen in just for the heck of it.

**POV Newt**

Okay, Jake got the annoying servant guy away from Tali? Check. Had dinner? Check. Snuck a pencil and paper out with me when no one was looking? Check. Time to see if a certain someone's house exists!

"Perfect, just perfect, it's raining." I grumbled when I peeked out the window next to the main door and saw the driveway speckled with raindrops and getting steadily darker. But this couldn't wait, since I needed to know NOW, so I just lifted my hoodie over my head and jogged out to face the now pouring rain. It was like that for most all of my journey to her street, with the winds blowing at my front and tossing my hood back every two minutes or so and the raindrops soaking my hoodie and chilling me through the holes. But none of that mattered. Once I found Maddy's house I could crawl in if no one lived in it, write a letter to her, and stick it in the compartment, and if it was inhabited I could still dry out and write my letter on the porch. Except for one tiny little difficulty.

"It's gone." I muttered. Maybe saying it aloud would make it more believable. Even through the blowing wind and the dim light of the street lamps I couldn't see the familiar hulking building that would be Maddy's house. All there was was a mound of dirt and a hole with concrete sides that was going to be the basement. They were just beginning to build it. And judging from the sign in front of the landscape, this wouldn't be ready to send messages for another year or so.

"Crap, it's gone!" Blindly, I threw a punch to my left and made contact with a tree. Not that I cared that it almost split in half. What did I do to deserve this? My only contact with life as I knew it and now she's gone. I won't be able to talk to her for years. I know better than to tell Tali about Maddy, just like she knows better than to tell me about Jake. I saw how she handled it last time I told her Maddy knew, and it would be murder to go through that again. Tali could invade our privacy or find out that her dad was Sam again, and then she'd try to protect me and keep me away from her. So now I have no way to talk to her. We could have had a blast just being able to talk to each other. God knows we have before. But now there's no way we can.

I just stared vacantly at the construction site that used to be her house. It's going to be hell without Maddy. If only there was another way. Any way.

"Hello, Newton." A voice from behind me pricked my ears up. I slowly turned around to see a man with blonde hair wearing a black trench coat and carrying an equally dark umbrella. He nodded to me when our gazes met, and I noticed his blue eyes. "_Those eyes are just like Jake's…_" I thought just as the dark man started speaking again.

"I was hoping you would come here. You're so much like your aunt. She couldn't stay away from the ones she loved either. I'm glad she learned that trait at an early age. It was useful for her to save the world." He pressed on, his mouth the only part of him moving, like a robot. My eyes widened when I took in his face, which just fitted Max's description.

"You're Jeb, aren't you?" I said cautiously, and he nodded. I should have guessed. Jake's eyes should have told me the first moment I saw him, his knowledge of my full name should have shown he was no good. I should have been backing away and taking off to go warn Tali that someone knew we were here. But some invisible force made me stay and listen to Jeb Batchelder, the man famous as the devil incarnate. "What do you want?" I asked suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be hunting down Jake or Syd or Shell? They are your grandkids, after all."

"Ah, but Jake and Syd and Shell aren't the ones who need me, are they?" Jeb chuckled.

"Well you've come to the wrong person. I don't need you. I'll never need you." What did he think I was going to do, take guidance and/or assistance from the scum who single-handedly made our parent's dreams, crushed them flat, and thought he deserved forgiveness for being on the bad guy's side? Not gonna happen.

"But the thing is, Newton, we have something you want." Jeb waited for me to look interested. But one of the things I learned from dad and Max was to always be sarcastic to hurt Jeb's feelings.

"So you're saying you can get me tickets and backstage passes to Linkin Park? Thanks but no thanks, mom's already planning on getting me some for my birthday and I really don't want her to be disappointed." I smirked. It felt good to not be upset that Maddy's not going to- oh great, pain's back. Jeb shook his head.

"You came here hoping to send a few messages to your friend, Maddy. I can respect that choice. It's good to have allies all over and in every time. And also, sending letters would be a good way to show someone you care, and love is one of the most important things in the world. But seeing as her house isn't here, you have no way to contact her, unless you were to ask your sister, which you'd never do for fear she'd keep you apart. And this is where we come in." I raised an eyebrow, daring him to tell me what he could do. He continued coolly. "We can give you powers that would help you communicate, Newt, the same way we gave them to your family. But our technology is more advanced this time. We can do it faster. We can do it tonight, if you'd like. Your friends wouldn't know a thing of you gaining another superpower, and you would be free to go through time and visit your good friend as you wish."

"You're joking. I know it. You can't really give me powers. You just want to use me for your stupid experiments." I started skeptical, but my voice rose with every sentence. This jerk's just trying to mess with me, trying to take advantage of my weak point. Newt Griffiths has no weak points.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? I know what you do there! You're going to make me suffer things worse than death, pains worse than I've ever felt! You don't want to give me powers, I don't think you'd even want to help me! You just want to take me to the School and never let me out and let me die in there! My family was right to keep us away from you!" By this point I was yelling. My breath came in shakily. He just stood there taking it all in. Even though the wind was about as mad as me and rain was pouring everywhere and I was yelling at him, he just stood there, letting it all happen. I almost couldn't stand it. Anyone who just sits there while another person is cursing their name can't be human.

"And what do you think you're doing, just standing there staring? Aren't you supposed to like be calling in Erasers or something? Don't you have any backup?" I swear, even though my volume was going down my insanity was just growing and growing. "No, you're probably just waiting for me to leave, for me to get back to where we're living now so then you can capture us all together. That's not going to happen. I'm staying right here." Right about now my brain snapped in two. I wouldn't be able to talk to Maddy for years. Tali would be no help at all. None of my friends would. And now my family's worst enemy (and therefore my worst enemy) thought I was an idiot since he was trying to convince me to go to the School, aka torture chamber, all the time pretending to give me powers when they were really going to kidnap me. And the worst part was that I couldn't go anywhere without him following me. I just couldn't expose us.

"Are you done?" Jeb asked, his tone suggesting that we were talking about the weather (which, by the way, was about to either drown me or give me hypothermia with the way it was continuing). When I didn't answer through my shallow breaths and clenched fists, he commenced. "Newton- Newt- I know you don't believe me. I know Max and Fang and Iggy and Nudge and even Gazzy and Angel and that genie, Rona-"

"Rina." I hissed. "My mom's name is Rina."

"Fine, Rina. They've all told you about the School and what happened there. But the thing is, would your life have been like this if we'd done what we had to do? You and your friends wouldn't even exist. Fang would be some heir to a fortune who's half orphan. Iggy would have had vision all his life and a loving family. Nudge would have grown up with her parents and sister. Gazzy and Angel would have been two poor kids living with their moneyless parents. And Max wouldn't have even been born. None of them would have wings or powers, and they wouldn't even be here because Max didn't save the world like we created her to. We did all that to them for the greater good. And this time we have more practice, more funding, more idea of what we're doing. So if you come with us we can give you what you want. Powers."

"Price. I murmured. "There's always a price. You always want something in return."

"No price." Jeb shrugged, trying to make it sound natural. "It's the least we can do for a boy who's going to save people who are going to save the world. It might even help you on your little adventure."

"I dunno, hardly anything is free these days." My eyes narrowed. "How do I know you're not going to put a tracking device on me or something?"

Jeb sighed, and reached into his trench coat and pulled something out. A white envelope, addressed to Newt Griffiths. There was no return address, but I knew that handwriting anywhere. I've seen it being used before every math class to finish last-minute homework. Maddy's letter. But all Jeb did was take it out and hold it at his side. Too easy.

In a flash that could have been horizontal lightning, I ran the twenty feet to Jeb's side, ripped the letter from his grip, and sprinted back to a new spot underneath the tree I almost punched in half so her letter wouldn't get wet (well, I was dripping on it, but that's something I can't help). Tearing open the envelope, I yanked the light blue paper and started reading.

"_Dear Newt,_

_I know you probably only just arrived in the past and you might not be settled yet, but I figured you might like a quick letter just to read when you're about to go to sleep. I miss you already. Spring break doesn't really seem like spring break, even though Jenna called and invited me over for a sleepover and I'm leaving in a few minutes. It keeps on raining, which is a first for this area. Remember last spring break when it was all dry and sunny and the pool was so crowded? Now it's more like the pool is overflowing._

_There's not really much to say, to tell you the truth. Please, write back and tell me all about what it's like in the past! Have you seen your parents yet? What does everyone in the past think of us kids from the future? I'd love to know!_

_Well, mom said she'd drive me to the sleepover since dad's working overtime. I still can't believe your aunt dated my dad! It's a weird thing to know, but I just can't see what the big deal is. Now to leave this out for your sister to send…wait a second. This weird guy suddenly showed up in my room and said he'd take it to you. I'm not sure if I trust him, but I can always rewrite this or something if he's no help. Write back soon!_

_Your BFF,_

_Maddy_"

When did my vision get all blurry? Must have been sometime when I was reading the letter. I never thought I'd miss just a piece of paper that she wrote on! I had to have more. I needed to write back. But her house wasn't there! Then I looked up. Jeb was still there, watching my smile fade when I realized what I'd have to do to talk with Maddy again.

"Tell me more about that offer." I snapped.

"All you need to do is come with us for one night. You'll wake up safe and sound in the morning with new powers, and you won't have to pay any prices." That sounded only too convincing. No price. Unlimited time with Maddy. I could probably even visit her if I wanted to. And I'd get those abilities in only one night. If only such a perfect deal wasn't offered by the devil himself.

"Trust your gut if you don't trust me." Jeb told me, like that was going to help this case. What would dad do? If this was Maddy, he'd probably drop the deal and just wait out the years. But if it were mom he was talking to, he'd probably just risk it. Yes, people would think he was an idiot, but still, this is a girl we're talking about. This is Maddy I'm talking about…

"Fine. Give me the powers." I muttered, and Jeb grinned. All of a sudden there was a weird feeling in the air, like something was wrong. Something bad was going to happen. Jeb strode over to me, and when he let me under his umbrella to lead me to who-knows-where. He took my hand, and something must have been in there waiting for me, because everything went black.

**A little while later (A/N because it's hard to tell when you're unconscious)**

I woke up when a raindrop or two plopped on my now throbbing head. Oh God, my head was throbbing. I could feel my pulse pumping even though I wasn't even touching it. Trying to ignore that, where was I? I blinked my eyes open and shut them immediately as I was met by a huge white light. Instead I resorted to my other senses. I could hear tires squealing on pavement and growing fader, so a car was speeding away. The ground was wet and cold underneath me, so I'm probably lying on a street after it rained. And I saw a white light, so I'm probably under a street lamp.

"Okay Newt, time to tough it out." I breathed and tried to sit up and see something other than light. With a quick glance I saw I was still where Maddy's house was supposed to be, and this time it was early morning and it only now stopped raining. But before I could get more than a ninety-degree angle I had to sink back down because my head hurt too much to get any further. And what was even worse was that I went down too fast and banged my head on metal. Yep, definitely beneath a street lamp! And I even have the scars to prove it now.

So let's review. I agree to Jeb taking me to the School and giving me powers all in one night. A few hours later I wake up in the same street I was with a killer headache and probably scars somewhere on my body. It's too hard to even open my eyes. All I can do is lie in the street. Man this situation stinks.

_I open my eyes._

_I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light._

_I can't remember how,_

_I can't remember why_

_I'm lying here tonight._

_And I can't stand the pain._

_And I can't make it go away._

_No I can't stand the pain._

_How could this happen to me?_

_I made my mistakes._

_I've got nowhere to run._

_The night goes on_

_As I'm fading away._

_I'm sick of this life._

_I just wanna scream._

_How could this happen to me?_

_Everybody's screaming._

_I try to make a sound but no one hears me._

_I'm slipping off the edge._

_I'm hanging by a thread._

_I wanna start this over again._

_So I try to hold on to a time when nothing mattered._

_And I can't explain what happened._

_And I can't erase the things that I've done._

_No I can't._

_How could this happen to me?_

_I made my mistakes._

_I've got nowhere to run._

_The night goes on_

_As I'm fading away._

_I'm sick of this life._

_I just wanna scream._

_How could this happen to me?_

_I made my mistakes._

_I've got nowhere to run._

_The night goes on_

_As I'm fading away._

_I'm sick of this life._

_I just wanna scream._

_How could this happen to me?_

So what have we learned from this? Never trust a man known as a mad scientist who will do anything to experiment on you. Now my headache got worse, so I'm just lying here on the street trying not to groan or throw up, whichever instinct comes up first. How did I benefit from this again? Right, the powers. Maybe when my brain stops getting stabbed with frozen flaming knives then I'll try it out.

God I'm such an idiot! Sacrificing my health for a few powers, I may as well have killed myself. I'm not even one who would kill for power. But power that could help me keep in touch with Maddy without anybody knowing…that's a different story entirely.

I lay there until it got so cold I could see my breath. One good thing about cold is that it works like an ice pack and helped my head heal. One bad thing about cold is that I was eventually going to be frostbitten and stuck to the pavement if I didn't get up soon. So gritting my teeth and with a partially healed head, I eventually worked my way into a standing position and started limping back to the mansion. Yes, everyone was going to wonder how I managed to stay out so late. Maybe I'll come up with a good reason once I'm warm and healed.

Of course, healing! I've got healing powers! I can just make my head feel better! I was so stupid to not think of it in time. I stopped my stagger and just stood in the middle of the sidewalk, concentrating on healing the flames that were currently lodged in my head. But they did nothing but get stronger the more I concentrated. Oh crap. This must have been what mom was talking about when I asked her about healing. You can't heal what heals you. My brain was hurting, and apparently those stupid scientists must have touched the part of my brain that heals me, so I'll have to wait for the human functions to heal that part. Thank god I'm part human, otherwise I'd need a hospital.

"_Brilliant. I can't heal myself. I'll have to wait._" Of course, the fire in my mind couldn't be consuming my negative thoughts. "_Couldn't those dang whitecoats do something right for once? Couldn't I just be in our room?_" And then, in a glint of light, I was there. Right at the door of our attic bedroom, with Tali asleep on the couch to my left. It worked. It worked! The whitecoats did something right for once! Now, to see where else I could go. One thing popped into my head. "_Maddy's place._"

Well, it worked, kinda. I ended up in some 25-year-old's apartment while she was in the bathroom. Apparently her name was Maddy, and apparently I wasn't in the future. "_Oh crap, I need invisibility_." I thought, and then the girl named Maddy came in wearing only a towel. But the thing is she didn't see me. She just went straight to her dresser and started pulling out clothes. I looked in a nearby mirror and I was invisible. Cool! Apparently I got the whole package when they were talking about powers! In the meantime, I better be more specific in my requests.

I thought Maddy's full name and the date when we left, and then there I was in her bedroom. She looked perfect, with her hair thrown across her face and a small smile on her lips. Without thinking, I gently shook her awake.

"Maddy." I rubbed her shoulder and her eyes fluttered open. She looked straight through me, then shrugged and went back to sleep. Oh, right, invisibility, my bad. I changed back to being seen and tried again. "Maddy, it's me!"

"Newt?" Maddy muttered sleepily. "Where did you come from? Is your sister here?"

"Nope. I'll explain later. Got your first letter, the one the weird guy picked up." I said and pulled out her letter to glance at one more time. But when I shook the letter out of the envelope, there was another slip of paper in there. I pulled it out to see that it was a note card and there was a small letter.

"_Newt-_

_You now have the power to teleport, as well as invisibility and controlling time because we thought you might need them along with the ability you asked for. Glad we were able to help you. Sorry about the throbbing, that'll calm in a few hours with the pain medication we gave you. We were impressed by your unique functions and how your scars seemed to heal so fast._

_See you next week._

_-Jeb_"

See me next week? I don't even want to know. So using my time freezing power thing, I froze time so me and Maddy could discuss her letter. She liked hearing about the past and how they thought we were so creepy, and she laughed when I told her about Jake scaring the living daylights out of that guy, Charles.

Our moral today? Always trust the man known as a mad scientist who will do anything to experiment on you. You might get a few benefits.

**You know what? For once this wasn't pointless! There's a reason I made Jeb give Newt those powers and it'll come up later in the story! But the Charles guy was pointless, I just thought it would be funny for Jake to freak out some servant guy who was flirting with Tali.**

**Please review, everyone! I love them so much, they make me feel a lot better! And they make the world go around because when I get reviews I smile and then I spread it to my family and they spread it to people who know and they spread it and so on and so forth and when people are happy and smiling they don't fight or get mad and that's what makes the world go round! Or if you want an explanation that doesn't make you just a little confused, I feel more motivated to write when I get them. Please review!**


	5. Mom?  Dad?

**Okay, since you all seemed to like it (besides the fact that Newt was being a total idiot), I figure it's safe to update and not have to go into hiding, dye my hair, and change my name. Although if I did change my name, it would probably be after one of my characters just because all my creativity goes into them (plus I write some poems and stuff, but that's beside the point). And there's your random fact for the day! **

**Now for review thank-you's. Thank you super much to the bestest people ever, who are Green.Winged.Mistress, Bubble Blower, S.L. Michaels, ghj1, and Evil Angel of DOOM, and also to IssytheWriter and Bubble Blower for reviewing chapters one, two, or three. You people all made my day, I love my precious reviews so much! And to reward you for your reviews, I offer Dr. Martinez's fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies and an update! In all technicality I'm just updating now so I can hurry up and get to the good stuff, like what's going to happen at Max and Fang's wedding! So please, enjoy the chapter even if it isn't the most exciting one! If you don't that would make me sad and then I'd loose my motivation.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it, don't need it, my OCs are hard enough to manage!**

**Zak: HEY!**

**Me: What? You are!**

**Zak: Don't blame us, Newt was the one being an idiot last chapter!**

**Newt: HEY! I can't help it if she made me do it!**

**Me: Yeah, but I felt like it and you're powerless without me, so suck it up and help me out here.**

**Newt: Make Jake and Tali say it.**

**Syd, Shell: We'll say it!**

**Newt: No offense girls, but I think Jake and Tali need to say it this time. Guys?**

**Tali: Why should we?**

**Me: Because we say so. And I might not make that one thing happen later in the story that you don't want to happen. So get talking!**

**Jake, Tali: roughdiamond5 does not own Maximum Ride, the characters, or the "save the world" thing. She does, however, own us and the plot.**

**Jake: Now undo the plot.**

**Me: SUCKERS! It's gonna happen! Here's the chapter, before they murder me!**

**Newt: Hey, it's going to affect us too! Get her!**

**Me: Bye! Here, have a chapter. (tosses finished chapter to readers)**

**Chapter 5: Mom? Dad?**

**POV Jake**

The bad thing about being a rich kid in a servant's world is that you have no clue what you're supposed to be doing. Same for Syd and Shell because they're my sisters, but they have it a little easier because they're both very neat and have experience with keeping clean rooms. Newt and Tali also seem to know what they're doing because Rina made them do one chore a week just to keep in touch with their human side, so they're kinda experienced. So right now I was at Zak's level, which was completely clueless, mainly because Zak was young enough to have Aunt Nudge do all the work for him.

But thankfully there's a good thing about being a rich kid in a servant's world. I got to work with Tali from dawn to dusk. It didn't become apparent when I first started to working in the kitchens with Newt and Tali (Syd and Shell got to work in the bedrooms, and a very unhappy Zak was assigned to laundry) because all I could think about was how mean the cook was.

"Here's the drill: I instruct, you listen, you do what you need to, we don't have a problem. If you don't listen you don't work, and if you don't work you don't get paid, so shut your lousy traps if you want your next paycheck." She leaned closer to us, further exposing her double chin and the mole on her right cheek. The expression was so fierce that we all backed down immediately. This was not a woman to mess with.

"Yes m'am." Newt was the first to reply with fierce sincerity in his voice and a bravery his sister didn't look ready for at the moment. I wanted to squeeze her hand or something, but who knows how the monstrous cook would respond to that. The cook grinned a yellow, toothy grin.

"First to talk is the first to sweep." Out of nowhere she clenched Newt's wrist and dragged him over to the cleaning cabinet. "You two start on the dishes." The cook barked over her shoulder and nodded to a corner with towering piles of dirty dishes. Tali jumped and scrambled over to the sink, with me at her heels. Normally I'd be at my own pace, but that woman scared me too much to think!

"If you wash I'll dry." Tali offered as soon as we had aprons on. I nodded and grabbed a sponge while Tali got some towels from the laundry room. Then my memory sank in, and I remembered that I didn't know the first thing about washing dishes. Maybe I was supposed to not get the sponge wet? It looked dry and tough enough to get rid of all the crud, so it must not need water. I started rubbing the dry sponge on the plate (apparently last night's dinner was spaghetti), and most of the meat sauce came off, but it left streaks. How was I supposed to get rid of those? Maybe that was what this blue water was for. I squirted some of it on the plate, and all it did was drip down and cause more streaks when I rubbed it with the sponge. Did I have to wait for the sponge to absorb the mess it already scooped up before it would take care of the streaks? Probably, since I heard sponges are absorbent. So I set it on the counter and waited for it to soak up the spaghetti sauce and blue stuff, but it took an eternity, so I went to the cleaning cabinet to get another sponge, all the time wondering where the heck water came into this process.

"What are you doing?" Tali finally walked in with five white washcloths and saw me rummaging through the cabinet.

"Looking for sponges."

"Why? You've got a perfectly good one over there." She noticed the sponge lying on the counter and not absorbing anything. Must be broken if it's taking that long.

"That one's broken."

"You can't break a sponge unless you tear it in half, and even then it still works."

"No, it's not absorbing."

"Huh? Oh, you mean absorbing the spaghetti sauce and dishwashing detergent, right?" Dishwashing detergent, so that's what it is!

"Yeah, that."

"No, it can't absorb stuff that big."

"What? Aren't sponges absorbent?"

"Yes, but they only absorb water!" Tali smiled and shook her head. "Do you even know how to wash a dish?"

"If that's not it then no."

"Okay, come here." She pulled me over to the sink, handed me the plate I was working on, and took a plate of her own. "See, the first thing you do is wash your sponge off because otherwise it's dirty and it won't clean anything." Tali held my sponge under a flow of water, and all the grime fell off after she gave it a few squeezes. "Then you need to put some detergent on it and rub it in so then you can get rid of all the germs." She poured some more of that blue liquid on the sponge and shoved it back under the water.

"Is it supposed to do that?" I pointed to the clear bubbles that were now taking the place of the blue detergent.

"Yeah, it means you can clean with it. Now you take the sponge and rub it around the plate like this." Tali demonstrated by making a circle shape with the sponge on the plate. "You do the same thing on the back, and then you just put it back under the water and get rid of all the bubbles, and then you hand it to me so I can dry it. Okay?"

"Yeah." I told her and took the sponge and imitated her movements with the next dish.

"Good, but don't forget to press it a little, otherwise it's not going to do anything but add bubbles." She began to take the sponge right as I was about to use it to try again, and our hands met. We both pulled back at the same time, and the sponge fell into the suds and sprayed us with white flakes of soap bubbles.

"Sorry, should have let you-" Tali began.

"No, go ahead-" I tried to correct her at the same time.

"No, it's fine, pract-"

"But I need an-"

"It's okay, go-"

"Just-" We stumbled like this for about eight attempted sentences until I thrust the plate over to her. "Show me." I asked. Tali looked at me for a sec and then took it, taking care not to touch me again.

"See? A little harder. If you can see yourself in it then you've gotten everything." Tali took a second to gaze at herself in the china, looking concerned, like there was something wrong. Personally I didn't think I saw anything wrong with her. Even when she was doing chores she managed to glow like a goddess, and I couldn't look away if I tried. Apparently Tali noticed, and turned to face me. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Why were you looking at you?"

"I dunno." She shrugged and tried not to look at me.

"Appearance?" I guessed.

"What?" She blushed and tried to fascinate herself in the wallpaper on her right side. "Why would I worry about my appearance?"

"All the girls that talk with me worry that. It's okay." Tali smiled and turned back to me, still trying to get rid of her blush.

"Funny, I could have sworn you just blanked out when they started their jabbering about whatever."

"Who says I don't?" I twitched a smile, and Tali giggled, filling the kitchen with sunlight, however that works. If Newt was here right now he'd be laughing like crazy at the thoughts I was having about her right then.

"I wasn't worrying about how I look, if that's what you're asking." Tali got back to the subject.

"You shouldn't." It was my turn to look away and begin washing another dish (which still felt very odd to be doing).

"What do you mean?" Tali raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing."

"No, seriously, what do you mean I shouldn't?"

"No, seriously, nothing."

"Come on, you know I'm going to get this out."

"No."

"What do you mean I shouldn't worry about my appearance?"

"Not telling."

"NEWT!"

"Fine!" I almost slammed the dish back into the soapy water. No way was Newt about to read my mind and see what I was talking about!

"I'm listening." Tali smirked, happy that she won.

"You shouldn't worry about your appearance because you look…"

"I look what?" Tali asked, and I made the mistake of looking into her eyes. Dang it Jake, learn not to look at the eyes! But it was too late, and I got lost in the blue skies all over again.

"Hello? Wake up!" Tali snapped her fingers in front of my face and broke me out of the trance. I could tell she was dying to say my name, but we'd have to use the fake ones and that wouldn't feel right. "So how do I look to you?"

"Amazing." I couldn't help it, it just slipped out of my mouth. To distract her I gave her another dish to start drying.

"Amazing?" Tali questioned even as she continued with her chore.

"Yeah."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No." Shut up, shut up, shut up! Shut up Jake, this isn't like you to say your feelings this way! Restore the connection between your brain and your mouth, then you might actually not embarrass yourself! But on the other hand she did seem kinda pleased…

"That's kinda impossible, isn't it?"

"No, you pull it off very well." I knew Tali was dying to know exactly what I meant, so I leaked a little more info. "Hair, eyes, face, figure. Nothing wrong with them. They're really nice. So quit worrying." Well, that was the gist of it, and there was so much more I thought about her, but she was never going to hear them. Only Newt would, since he can read my mind and find out anyways.

"Uh…thanks." Tali flushed again. "Sorry you had to hear me ask that. I guess this is where I differ from mom and Max."

"I don't see much difference." I smiled for a split second, and Tali smiled back and turned away.

"Sis, you're not deaf, you clearly heard him telling you you looked amazing." Since neither Tali nor I said that, we twisted around to see Newt leaning on the doorway, broom in hand and a smirk on his face. He heard everything.

"Dang it, don't do that!" Tali stomped her foot on the ground.

"Why, would you rather have the cook find you not even halfway done with your dishes?" Newt said apathetically and walked over to the supply cabinet to put the broom away. "Besides, she wants you to heat up the oven and get some quiche cooking. Mr. Denton has a surprise guest that looks and acts a lot like him, so we'll need to get lunch started for them." Tali, Newt, and I all sent fleeting looks to each other. That had to be dad who came over. We came at a good time.

After lunch was eaten, Newt, Tali, and I cleared the table and scrubbed dishes some more. With Newt there Tali couldn't ask me what I meant by her having no difference from Rina and mom, but then again I couldn't talk to her or even think about her without Newt knowing, so I preoccupied myself by thinking that every dish I was cleaning might have been my dad's. Finally six o' clock rolled around and Newt came back from the cook (after scouring the table under her close supervision).

"The cook told me to tell you that 'the silent boy' needs to go to the store and get more bread, and some salt and paprika." Newt motioned to me, taking care not to say my name, then he turned to Tali. "And she wants you to heat up the stove, get out some sausage, and thaw it out, and she'll have someone else make meatballs."

"Well hurry up then, the bread's probably for dinner." Tali shooed me out before she got the humongous stove running. I rushed out the door and grabbed some money from the jar by the door, trying to avoid the cook, who was just coming back from Mr. Denton's office. Thankfully the store wasn't that far away, so it took me fifteen minutes tops to get the supplies, stand in line, pay for the merchandise, and come back to the mansion. Since I had to be a servant, I used the side door and walked past the grand doors to get to the kitchens and drop off the stuff before the cook murdered me.

Wait, no, correction: I tried to walk past the grand doors, but something stopped me. There was my dad, leaning against the wall near the doors. And he was only eighteen years old. I stopped right in front of him and stared, too stunned to inch any further. Holy cow, he looked exactly like me! Except he was a few inches taller and five years older, but you get it. Same hair, same posture, same expressionless gaze, same dark shadow, and I'll bet we had the same fingerprints too. The only difference was our eyes. His were dark, possibly black, but they weren't the bad kind of black, maybe the kind that just didn't want to show anything. Mine were blue, and they hardly showed anything either. Dad noticed me, and we looked each other up and down for a few seconds. Then I gathered up a bit of courage and spoke, even though that's against every personal and group rule I knew.

"Aren't you Charlie Denton's kid?" I checked.

"Aren't you that kid that never speaks?" He snapped back. Wow, a few days here and I've already worked up a reputation. At least it wasn't "creepy bully kid who won't let any other guy have the oldest girl in his group". I'd be in serious trouble.

"Yeah. But aren't you Charlie Denton's kid?"

"Yeah. But I've got a name."

"Fang, right?" Okay, now I was in serious trouble.

"How did you know all that?" Dad raised an eyebrow, which was a threat in itself for me to continue and explain myself.

"I just know." I said the first thing that came to mind and decided to go with it. "You look like Charlie Denton's kid, you look like you picked your own name, and you look like you picked Fang."

"Right." Dad's eyes narrowed. Obviously he didn't trust me. "But if you're the kid that never speaks, then how did you start talking?"

"I always knew. I just never did. You know what I'm talking about." I credited myself for using logic, but then I mentally kicked myself. Jake, you idiot, you're not supposed to know what he's like yet!

"Yeah. I do. But how did you know I do that?"

"Your posture. The way no one noticed you. Your eyes." Finally, Newt and Tali ran into the hall to look for me and save me from being a dimwit again. They skidded to a halt in front of dad and stared at him with surprise written all over their faces. And they told ME not to blow my cover! They both knew he was here, so why was it such a surprise to see him in the flesh and leaning against the walls? Oh, right, the age. We've never seen him like this.

"Sorry about him." Tali broke out of her trance and pointed about me. "He was supposed to have brought in the groceries."

"It's okay. We were just having a little chat." Dad responded, never taking his eyes off of me. Then the grand doors opened, and who should come in but Rina! Well, you readers probably knew it was going to happen, but what if you were seeing your dad only five years older than you and your dad's friend came in the door all of a sudden? You'd be shocked, right? There you go. So anyways, we knew it was only Rina's clone, but still, she didn't look too different from how we knew her in our time. Maybe it was just the powers. However, there was the slightest change in her eyes, like there was an innocence in there that suggested she hadn't seen as much as she was about to. She wasn't even an adult yet. But away from descriptions, Rina turned to dad.

"Ready to go, Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Yeah, we should go too. Right?" Newt agreed and jabbed me in the ribs, hinting for me to leave.

"Yeah. Bye." I swiveled around and marched out before Newt or Tali could stop me. I thought I heard Tali apologize for me before they ran after me. I just dropped the groceries and ran so fast they couldn't catch up. I didn't want to talk. I wanted to get one last look at my dad. My dad. Was he really that similar to me? Maybe I was just so shocked that I was an idiot. I almost blew our cover with one glance. I couldn't do that to my friends!

When I finally reached the attic I thrust open the door and climbed onto the dinning table next to the window, the one that faced the street where dad was traveling. After scanning the shrubs a bit, I saw Rina's clone and dad going down the street to the forest, where they were probably going to disappear after they were covered by trees. I just couldn't tear my eyes away from my dad, _my dad_, lurking next to Rina's clone. From the back I could see the little clump of hair sticking up on his head. I fingered the back of my own head to feel the same bunch jolting up in the same place. It was like seeing an older version of me.

"Do you know what it's like to hide?" I muttered, knowing full well that he couldn't hear me, and hopefully no one else could either. "To lie about everything, even your own name? To not be able to say one wrong thing for the sake of your friends? I do." I sighed. "I do now. And it's all for you." Those sentences pretty much summed everything up. This really sucked. But at least I was doing this for my family. And it felt good to vent my feelings out, in any case.

Suddenly I jerked my head over to face the door as I heard footsteps. A soft knock echoed through the weak wooden door. "Can I come in?" Tali asked meagerly. Not willing to answer, I climbed off the table and opened the door myself. Tali looked at me with concern.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, then walked over to the window and sat on my spot on the table.

"Fine. Just recovering from being an idiot." I muttered back and sat next to her.

"Why were you being an idiot?" Tali questioned and gazed at the clone of her mom.

"Almost gave too much away." I refused to look at her. How could I be so stupid, almost blowing our secret out of the water when I just saw my dad! If I was that weak in five minutes I certainly wouldn't be able to manage a month, or even a week. They may as well send me home now.

"It's hard, isn't it?" A soft hand found its way onto my knee, and I slowly turned around to see Tali looking at me with a mixture of understanding and comfort. I had to admit, I felt a little better with her touching me like that. Eww, I just reread that, that sounds a little gross. Okay, let me rephrase. I felt better because her warm, velvety hand was on my leg, and it felt very nice. Plus the look that accompanied it was gorgeous! I lost myself for a second.

"Yeah, it's hard." I finally admitted.

"It's hard for all of us, Jake." Tali sighed. "I tried to talk only to your dad so I wouldn't have to talk to mom and mess up. But don't think you're stupid just because you stumbled a bit. We all will eventually."

"Who said I thought I was stupid?" I forgot what I was feeling since Tali's hand never did leave my thigh.

"You did. You were ashamed that you almost ruined our cover. But it's only natural that you'd expect Fang to know everything." At the mention of my dad we both looked out the window and saw him taking another look at the mansion. He must have felt us looking at him or something, because he looked suspicious, and then turned around. Thank god for raptor vision, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to see him vanish under the cover of the trees.

We stayed like that for a second, with Tali leaning gently on my shoulder. I could almost smell her hair. It was probably one of the best trances I've ever had, since she was so close and she made me feel so good. Hesitantly, I reached out and stroked her hair. Tali only pushed herself into my figure some more.

"Wouldn't Newt be here about now?" I asked quietly so as not to shatter our moment of comfort.

"No, he took the groceries to the cook." She smiled wearily. But then we realized what position we were in and jumped up and off the table. Tali backed into the china hutch, and I almost fell over one of the chairs.

"Sorry." We both apologized at the same time and left the room. What was I thinking, getting that close to her? She probably wouldn't even look at me for a month after what I did. Time to go resume those stupid chores, I suppose.

**POV Tali**

"Sorry." Jake and I both apologized and left the room. How did we end up so close to each other? He was stroking my hair, I was on his shoulder, jeez, he's probably not even going to stay in the same room as me after that! But it was nice while it lasted…okay, very nice…okay, I enjoyed the heck out of it, ya happy? It's just we were so close, and for a second I forgot the possibility that he might not want me that near. He's Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent Jr., so he would never want anyone that close unless he really liked them, which I highly doubt he would like me as! I should have just followed Newt to the kitchens and let him comfort himself.

My prediction was partially true. Jake would have stayed away from me the whole night if it weren't for the fact that we had to be so close together. During dinner he took his usual spot across from me but wouldn't even glance at me and instead tried to listen to Zak rambling on and on about how working in the laundry is no fun and should be banned for life. I tried to put on a mask of interest and listen too, but something kept gnawing at me inside and telling me that I enjoyed being with Jake so much that I should do it again, even if he didn't feel the same way about me. I tried to fight that part and tell it that Jake wouldn't speak to me ever again if I even got close to that, and the gnawing part of me fought back and told me to look at him and really think about if I wanted to have him hold me like he did that afternoon. And that's how my friends caught me staring blankly at Jake when I was supposed to be listening to Syd and Shell.

"Tali?" Newt asked and pressed on when I didn't respond. "Why are you looking at Jake?" Jake looked up when he heard his name, as did everyone else, and I blushed.

"I was just thinking…" I stalled, trying to think of any excuse to explain myself. "We could all use a shower or something!" Not my best excuse, but it'll work. But let's hope Jake didn't take offense that he thought I looked at him and thought "dirty". The door creaked open at that time, which saved me from a lot of questions and weird looks, and a girl of about sixteen gawked at us.

"Can we help you?" Newt asked cautiously.

"Mr. Denton needs to see you all in his office." The girl said mechanically. "Please hurry."

"Yes, we'll hurry. Goodbye." I got up and shut the door in her face. I know it's rude and all, but we were never that accustomed to strangers and this weird girl was no exception. "Okay guys, let's get down to his office and see what he wants." Everyone moaned and stood up.

"Can't we finish dinner?" Syd asked.

"Sorry kiddo, we should probably go." I messed up her hair, and she scowled but didn't complain. We all trekked to Mr. Denton's office and took our previous seats on or near his couch without being asked. I could hear everyone's stomachs rumbling (mine included), but I ignored it and just raised an eyebrow at Mr. Denton, provoking him to explain why he summoned us.

"I'm not sure if the rumors have reached you, but a young man came to this house today and he turned out to be my son." Mr. Denton told us.

"Yes, we actually had the pleasure of meeting him in the halls." Newt gave him some information of our own.

"Well, I didn't, and neither did they-" Zak corrected and motioned to Syd and Shell. "-but still, we heard a description of him and all. I think you look a lot alike, right?"

"Yes, we do. But I invited him and his five friends to live in this place with me. I also offered him servants and rooms to all his friends just to get him to say yes. He agreed, and now I'm asking you six if you would be interested in being their servants." Hmm, interesting offer…I never thought of us as being the personal servants our parents had.

"What would happen to us if we agreed?" I asked.

"A bonus pay and less work with your assigned jobs?" Mr. Denton offered. "Of course, this would mean that any hour of any day you would have to attend to them."

"We'll take it." I said almost instantly. Hey, this way we get closer to our parents without them being suspicious! This was a pretty good deal.

**A few days later**

**Still Tali POV (A/N just in case you were wondering)**

The same weird girl came to our door that evening (they probably sent her again because she didn't come back shaking or scarred) to tell us to wait outside Mr. Denton's office for our new masters.

"Don't you just love the way they say 'new masters'?" Newt asked with a weak grin when the door was shut. Obviously he was trying to lighten the mood for us, I mean we were about to meet our parents! Would we loose our minds when we saw them or something? Jake was practically radiating nervousness, but only Newt and I were aware of it since we never told Syd, Shell, and Zak that he saw his dad and a clone of our mom. The little kids were just excited and pleased that they were going to see their family in a different age.

"Come on, guys, let's go." I herded everyone out of the room, except for Jake, who I had to pull by the arm to come with me. Neither of us looked at each other the entire time, and my hand flew away from him as soon as we were outside the door.

"Now what?" Syd and Shell asked.

"Now? Now we wait." I answered. "And remember guys, don't act like you know more than them. In fact, you might not even want to speak unless you have to."

"Won't they want introductions this time?" Zak asked. "We can't go without names forever, otherwise they'd have to call me 'kid who looks like Gazzy and Nudge' or something and that would be bad for our cover because then they might get suspicious and-" Syd and Shell took that moment to cover his mouth, but it was too late to not think of what would happen if we were discovered. We'd be dead meat.

"Right, everyone remember their fake names, okay?" I reminded, trying to get our minds off of the worst-case scenarios. At that moment a black Scotty dog came up to us and wagged its tail at us, possibly begging for food.

"Aww, it's a dog!" Shell crouched down and picked it up.

"It's so cute!" Syd agreed and petted it so hard that its skin stretched back.

"No, you gotta pet him softer, so it doesn't hurt him!" Zak disagreed and rubbed the dog a little on the back.

"Who says it's a boy?" Shell asked.

"I did. He just looks so much like one, right boy?" The dog wagged its stubby little tail and apparently agreed.

"Tali…" Newt said slowly, and I turned to him. "I can read his mind." Everyone kinda freaked out at that, but we heard hands clapping (Mr. Denton's prearranged signal for us to come in), and we all trooped in. I silently tried to convince Shell to let go of the dog, but she wouldn't budge, so I just pushed her into the room with us. We hardly got an opportunity to glance at our parents before someone screamed.

"TOTAL!" Aunt Angel shrieked shrilly (what a tongue twister!) and everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) jumped at least an inch as she went to grab the black dog from Shell's arms.

"Angel! I thought you died in the explosion!" The dog (or Total, apparently) licked Aunt Angel in the face as she hugged him. What the? How could this dog be Total? Well, he did have the talking thing down.

"What explosion?" Aunt Angel looked ready to cry.

"When the School was blown up! The night before I got here they said you died. I could have sworn I was freed while I was sleeping, hours before it exploded. And then I was here, at the door of the mansion! They took me in for four years. I almost forgot how to talk! But what are you doing here?"

"Rina got to the School, freed all the experiments, and we saved the world and blew up the School, then we got a house and went to school for the past four years. Then we found out that Fang's dad live here, so we're living here now! But I missed you so much! They said you were dead too!" Total looked like a squeeze toy after all the times he was hugged. Everyone was shocked at Total's reappearance, and Jake, Fang, and Mr. Denton were just trying to ignore the affection.

"Well, now that you have your dog back, these are your servants. They're new here, but they know the place well. And they also refuse to give us any names, so-" Acting on impulse, I blurted out the first name I could think of and hoped it was the right one.

"Demetria." There we go, the right one! But I forgot my nickname. Everyone looked at me. "Call me Demi, though." I gave a small smile to my family, finally taking a chance to look at them. Wow, dad looked a lot younger! A few inches shorter, maybe, and no wrinkles, but he looked much more different somehow. Maybe it was just because I was used to seeing him as my dad. And mom didn't look any different! Probably the powers, but she didn't even look to be an adult yet. There's a scary thought. Max looked about the same, I just don't know what to say about her. Let's just say she still looked…leaderly. Fang was still the same dark guy we all knew him as, and he didn't seem too stressed by his soon-to-be job of managing Microsoft. And Uncle Gazzy and Aunt Nudge were still kids! That's weird, considering we know them as Zak's parents. And here they are, hardly even together yet! I snuck a sideways glance at Zak, and he was trying to keep his jaw from dropping at his parents.

"Dylan. I'm Demi's twin brother." Newt caught onto the fake name game.

"I'm Taylor. I don't know why my name is like that, I'm not a tailor or anything. I don't even care about clothes that much, I can't sew them or make them, not that I want to, I'm a boy! I think they put me in laundry just because my name sounded to them like I'd be good at it, which I'm not. They're all 'put the clothes in the machine' and 'don't you know how to do laundry?' and-" I put a hand over Zak's mouth the moment he started imitating the laundry person's voice in one completely different than his own. I glared at him, and he smiled sheepishly, like that was going to solve anything.

"Sorry. He's our motormouth." I matched Zak's grin. I'm just apologizing for everyone these days! Hey, when you're a leader you have to take responsibility for your group's mistakes.

"I'm Tara."

"I'm Skye."

"And we're twins! This is our older brother." Syd and Shell introduced themselves. I can hardly believe they were acting that natural in front of their parents, but they did get the lying genes from their parents, so that would explain it. We all looked to Jake, seeing if he would say his name or if we'd have to say it for him.

"Kyle." Jake muttered finally. Our parents looked at each other, trying to remember our names.

"_Mom's telling them that me, Jake, and Tali were the ones they met in the hall. I think we're famous, guys!_" Newt sent a thought to all of us. "_Oh, and Jake, she also said they're lucky you said anything._" Jake tried not to scowl, but I could see it twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Well, now that you've met, Demi, you'll be Max's servant, Kyle, let's put you with Fang, Iggy, you get Dylan, Tara, go with Nudge, Taylor, go with Gazzy, and Angel, you'll get Skye." Mr. Denton assigned us to our parents. Max? I'm going to serve Max? Sure, I can see why Newt got dad, but why didn't I get mom? I suppose she didn't need a servant with all her powers. But still, I'm still going to serve mom a bit once they're comfy with us. And in the meantime I can keep tabs on Jake, Syd, and Shell all the better since Jake probably wasn't going to get anything from Fang. "And now that we're all settled, would you guys be willing to take them to their rooms?" Mr. Denton addressed us. We responded with nods and "yeahs" and left the room, hoping they'd follow. They did, after thanking Mr. Denton for the new home.

When everyone was out and the door was closed, we all turned to our parents. "Okay, let's get a few things straight." I started. We may as well sound like we didn't know them. "We're not servants. We're just like you."

"You mean you're either two percent birds with superpowers or ex-genies?" Mom asked. I allowed myself a small grin for the family sense of humor and sarcasm.

"Ha ha, very funny. But we're only here because we have to be. We're working because we need the money, and this is the only job that will take all six of us. We only serve you for the overtime pay. Got it?" I know I made us sound like tough orphans, but that was exactly what I was going for. If we had a cover story already then it would be harder for them to believe otherwise. Our parents nodded, and dad raised his hand.

"Just one question?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I call Kyle Mini Fnick? They look so alike and all, so..." Aunt Nudge, Uncle Gazzy, Aunt Angel, Newt, Syd, Shell, and Zak all cracked up, and mom smirked. I was lost for a second, but then I remembered that Jake's fake name was Kyle, and then it was only too funny!

"No, you can't." Fang answered for me. "We're not that similar. Don't even think about it." Touchy much, Fang?

"Maybe we should see what Kyle thinks." I looked at Jake for the first time in what seemed like ages. Wow, I missed seeing him! Midnight black hair, ice blue eyes, olive skin just like his dad…what am I thinking? He's my friend, he's nice, he's not my crush, he's my friend, he's nice, he's not my crush! Jake shrugged at dad's suggestion.

"Sure. If it's easier." He finally muttered, refusing to look at anyone, especially not me. I wish he wasn't so embarrassed about our last encounter, I mean I was embarrassed too, but he's my friend! Friends make up when they have fights. And this wasn't even a fight. Or maybe I just wanted to get close to him again. Either way, I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost forgot to laugh along when dad called him Mini Fnick.

We showed our parents to our rooms, and afterwards we talked about how weird it was to see our parents so young, but the entire time I just couldn't stop thinking about Jake.

**Sorry everyone, I would write more on what they thought of their parents, but I wanted something posted by tonight and there's some other stuff I need to work on (at least it isn't schoolwork :P) so otherwise I'd have to stay up late and type up more. I hope you liked the Jali! And I was wondering, did I do the encounter with Fang right? It'd be great if you could mention any flaws now, because I'm going to have much more of that kind of thing later on.**

**But for the meantime, peace, love, and chocolate pie to all who review!**


	6. Stupid Suspicions

**Hello to all! Can't do too long a note tonight, I just want to get the chapter over with. I'm loosing my motivation, I just keep getting new ideas that I'm DYING to do, but then I think of all you amazing reviewers and think better of it. Thanks to Bubble Blower, Green.Winged.Mistress, DigiNinMon, ghj1, and S.L. Michaels, I am now updating! And also huge thanks to IssytheWriter for reviewing chapter 3.**

**And now for one or two single quick little things: UBER-HUGE thanks to Green.Winged.Mistress and Green.Winged.Master (her friend who does not want to be named on this website so I'll call him Green.Winged.Master) for just being there and supporting me and helping me find the will to update! This chapter's for you. Also, this is dedicated to Bubble Blower, whose PM motivated me to update sooner (holy cow it's been a month since I updated!), so your encouragement is much appreciated. Last item on the agenda: I am SO sorry for the delay, and thank you for your understanding, I just have some things going on, such as email and preparing the house for my grandparents to visit and homework and suddenly I'm interested in things I never thought I'd be interested in, so I'M SORRY! I hope you all can forgive me. :(**

**Disclaimer: Search me. Seriously, I'll even assume the position for you. Do I have some sort of proof saying I own Maximum Ride? Nope, not even a shred. But I do have my notebook, which proves that Tali, her friends, and the plot are mine, so NO STEALING! Thank you, and on with the chapter!**

**Chapter Six: Stupid Suspicions**

**POV Tali**

I found a cure for thinking about boys nonstop (coughJakecough)! All you have to do is be completely and utterly freaked out by your parents. Well, it works most of the time, but considering I'm serving Max (otherwise known as Jake's mom) it was kinda hard to not even be reminded of Jake.

I punched everyone awake at four in the morning as always, and once Newt had breakfast down, I remembered that we had to start serving our parents today. Apparently Syd and Shell caught on and let the badgering begin.

"Tali? Can we have extra breakfast?" they asked identically.

"How come they get extra breakfast and I don't unless they mean we as in all of us in which case can we have some more please?" Zak begged along.

"Why would you want extra breakfast?" Newt asked Syd and Shell when I just looked at my oatmeal and wouldn't respond.

"We get to serve our parents today!" Shell blurted, and then all h-e-double hockey sticks broke loose. Jake almost choked on his water when he heard, and Newt had to pound his back while laughing like a maniac, Zak started rambling about how was he going to serve his dad and not get caught, and Syd and Shell were squealing excitedly and swearing to tell each other each and every single detail about what it was like to serve Aunt Nudge/Aunt Angel. Once Jake was finished inhaling his drink, he gave me the smallest look, which I recognized to say "do I have to?". I whistled, and everyone came into order (even Zak, which was a change of pace).

"Look, guys, it's not that big a deal." I coaxed. "All you have to do is pretend you don't know them and do what they ask you to."

"So basically same as always?" Newt grinned, and I shot him a look. "Hey, they can get kinda embarrassing sometimes!"

"No they can't!" Zak almost yelled. "Dad's got a really cool job, and so do Iggy and Fang and they're funny and teach us the flying and stuff and our moms are cool too because they help teach us how to fight and they all take us places and they're cool!"

"Cool or now, we're going to have to pretend we don't know them at all!" Syd claimed.

"It's going to be really hard to do that!" Shell agreed.

"Jake, wanna comment on this?" I almost pleaded for some help on calming them. All his expressions told me I was on my own, so I stuck out my tongue. "Fine, but come on guys, just…blend in. Don't avoid them, but don't get too close. Don't make anyone notice you, not even our parents. And above all, _do not show who we are._" I looked at every one of them when I said that last part. Luckily, a few of them looked intimidated. I didn't mean to be a bully, but you gotta do what you gotta do to make them listen! "Got it?"

"Yes m'am!" Newt saluted, and Syd and Shell exchanged snickers.

"But what about like family resemblances and stuff like that? You know, like when Newt does a lot of sarcasm just like Iggy and when Jake's really silent like Fang and stuff like that, what do we do about that?" Zak asked.

"Well, they probably know we do that already, so there's nothing we can do about it." I told him.

"But if I mess with their minds just a little?" Newt offered, looking eager to test his power.

"No, no, no mind erasing!" I snapped.

"Dost I detect a hint of tension?" he played around. "Perhaps my dear sister is nervous as well?"

"I'm not nervous and you know it. I'm just trying to keep you in control!"

"It's okay Tali, I'm nervous too." Shell patted my arm.

"Me too." Syd told me.

"Thanks sweetie, but I'm not really nervous, I'm just mad at Newt." I took a second to glare at an unfazed brother whose name was Newt.

"If you're mad at Newt does that mean we have to be mad at Jake?" Shell inquired innocently. She knew as well as me that she didn't, but maybe she just wanted to have something to do with her sister.

"Who do I get to be mad at if I have no brothers or sisters then?!" Zak whined, apparently not getting it.

"No, don't be mad at anyone, it's not good!" I informed them.

"Well then why are you mad at Newt?" the girls asked at the same time.

"Because I'm saying Tali is nervous and she's saying she's not, and I keep saying she is, which makes her mad at me for telling the truth." Newt smiled smugly when the girls cocked their heads at his explanation.

"So you have to be mad at someone when they're lying?" Syd tried to make it out.

"This is confusing!" Shell said.

"Come on, forget it, we need to go wake them up." I ushered them out of the room. "Just remember not to let them know who we are, even if it's remembering something they haven't seen yet or acting like them or knowing more than they told you. Oh, and the plan for today is to give them the grand tour. Okay?"

"Okay." Syd, Shell, Zak, and Newt said at the same time. Jake just nodded a bit. We branched off to our parent's rooms, and I walked into Max's room to see that it was already decorated. How'd she manage to get it like that already?? Oh, right, mom. I tried to shake Max awake, and she rolled over.

"Wake up please!" I whispered. Would have said more, but I just wouldn't be able to call her m'am or something silly like that.

"Go away." She lazily pushed me away, just like her daughters would. I thought for a second, then sunk into the mattress (no fair, all I get is a lumpy couch!) and zapped her with my lightning just a little bit, like when you rub your feet on a rug and then go shock someone. Max shot up in bed, and I smiled at her.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" I asked cheerily, despite her scowl and her hair sticking out like Syd and Shell's when they got up in the morning.

"What do you want at this time of day?" Max glanced at the clock and laid back down to try and sleep.

"Gotta get up and do some stuff, and then you can do whatever for the rest of the day, okay?"

"Great plan. Our first matter of business: to let me sleep more." She put her pillow over her head, and I grabbed it off her and dragged her off the bed. Of course, she was four years older than me and more experienced in the art of fighting, which made her a lot stronger than me. Where's Newt when you need him?

"I'm up, I'm up!" Max finally surrendered, rolled her eyes, and grabbed something random from the walk-in closet. Apparently she was comfy with changing in front of a fellow girl, but I averted my eyes anyways while she changed.

"So who's waking my friends?" She asked, still sounding like she needed a coffee/tea/Red Bull combination.

"The others. You know, the servants." I told her and explained a little more when she looked confused. It almost murdered me to call them servants, which they weren't! But she wouldn't know that for years. "And you know, you can call them the Flock. I don't mind." The first mistake of the day. Crap, I'm an idiot! "Mr. Denton told us about your past." I corrected hastily.

"Right, them. Are they your siblings or something?" Max decided to ignore that.

"Not really. Well, N- Dylan is, but the rest are just people who have to travel with me. I guess you could call it our own little flock." Right, we're more like the Flock 2, complete with wings and carbon copies of the original Flock.

"Done. Where's breakfast?" I turned around to see Max in a regular (well, kinda grubby) T-shirt and jeans with holes all over the knees.

"Mr. Denton will have to let you get some new clothes. And I'll show you." I opened the door for her, like a good little servant girl should, and she walked out with me at her heels.

"You know, you aren't exactly dressed like a princess either." Max grumbled.

"Yes, but Mr. Denton only gives his servants new clothes when they get too dirty. We're supposed to wear rags. You aren't." I responded. I could have sworn I saw her get a bit sympathetic at the "supposed to wear rags", but then it evaporated when she heard the "you aren't".

"What do you mean I'm not?"

"Well you're friends with the heir of the richest man in the world, so you should have money for new clothes. Fancy ones, if you want."

"No way, I'm not wearing fancy." HA! I can't wait until she gets married to Fang, then she'll be in a dress and I'll be laughing! She thinks she'll never wear fancy clothes, oh, that's a good one.

"Okay, no fancy. What do you want for breakfast?" I changed the subject, sat her in the dinning room (where everyone but Fang and Jake was), took her order (a LOT of food, which I got help carrying out), and was about to leave with the first load of dishes when Jake opened the doors and revealed a very darkly-dressed Fang. Max stared at him for a moment (something about his pants, I'm guessing), and I couldn't help but stare at Jake too. He and his dad just looked so familiar it was scary! Looking around the room, you could really see how similar everyone was. I was praying no one but us noticed.

"_Don't worry, no one noticed._"

"_Thanks for the help, Newt. Could you do me a favor and connect everyone's minds? I need a report._"

"_Fine, fine. Jeez woman, you want everything from me! Guys, Newt and Tali here._"

"_Thanks, Newt. Okay everyone, did anyone spill anything?_" We had our little conversation as we cleared the table and brought out more food. Occasionally we got random looks from people of the Flock for being so quiet, but we all ignored it.

"_Mom and dad are already sharing a bed!_" Newt began. "_Can't they wait a bit? Mom's only seventeen, they can't even be married yet! Tali, please tell me they're not going to try something and I'm not going to be older than Jake._"

"_Eww, too much info!_" Syd and Shell thought simultaneously.

"_No, they won't, happy? Syd, you next. How was Aunt Nudge?_" I tried to shake off the image of me being twenty when Jake was only ten.

"_She talks a lot and she's hard to wake up. It's like she came to life when she saw there was someone to talk to! But she's really nice. Shell, you promised you'd tell me A.S.A.P, so tell now!_" Syd said

"_Aunt Angel? She was already awake when I came in. And she didn't look so smiley when she saw me. How come?_"

"_It's probably because I blocked your mind._" Newt told her.

"_Oh, okay then. But she was nice, and maybe she would talk to me more if she knew what I was thinking, but I like her already._"

"_This is different how? You've always liked her._" Newt probably rolled his eyes about now, not that I knew because we were in two separate places at the time.

"_Zak, you?_" I moved on.

"_No, not Zak!_" Newt whined. "_We'll never hear the end of it!_"

"_Better than Jake where you don't even hear the beginning of it._" Zak came in.

"_Newt, did you connect him?_" I asked worriedly. He has to think something eventually!

"_I'm here, Tali. Just trying not to think._" I exhaled. Good, he's here!

"_Okay, nice to have you here. Zak, go._" I rushed.

"_Wait, don't you want to ask why he's trying not to think?_" Newt demanded.

"_No, she doesn't, and besides, it's my turn! Okay, so dad's got a room that's entirely camo and I really want a room like that so when we get back home I want a room like that but anyways dad is hard to wake up and he looks a lot like me and he's funny and he gave me one of his special deliveries when he woke up and he got dressed and I took him to breakfast and I tried not to talk much because otherwise I'd spill something and I wouldn't stop talking and then he'd be mad at me or scared of me and never talk to me and then I'd never get to hang around him and I like being around him even if he doesn't know who I am so I'd be sad and you guys might be mad at me since-_"

"_Zak, is there a way to cover your mouth in your mind?_" Syd asked.

"_Maybe. Not that I know of._" Zak responded.

"_Just pretend we're covering your mouth, okay?_" Shell told him.

"_Okay. Mglph gerrof m'mouf!_"

"_Jake, you?_" I turned to him in my mind to see if he'd say anything.

"_Nothing much. Woke him up, made him wear different clothes, brought him to breakfast. That's it._" That's Jake for you, never speaks to others.

"_Hey, look at Fang!_" Zak pointed out, and those of us in the dinning room (me, Zak, and Shell, in case you were wondering) turned to stare (inconspicuously) at Fang. He had a lost look on his face, and he was staring at Max.

"_What, what's he doing?_" Syd asked.

"_Are you kidding? This is FANG, he hardly DOES anything!_" Newt informed her.

"_He's just staring at mom with a weird look on his face._" Shell told her sister, and Newt and Jake overheard.

"_Who wants to see what he's thinking?_" Newt offered.

"_ME!_" Everyone but Jake and I thought.

"_Fine, now connecting. No one think loud enough for him to hear!_" The next thing we knew we heard a slightly less mature voice thinking about Max.

"_God, she's beautiful. How'd the kid…what's his name…Kyle know that she'd like if I wore these?_" Thankfully Newt thought that was enough for us and he cut the connection. Those who were with Jake were probably staring at him like a piranha was biting his nose. Jake interfered with something?

"_Jaaaaake?_" Newt stretched out his name. "_Whadja do?_"

"_Nothing!_" Jake protested.

"_No, it was something. But what?_"

"_Just something so mom would like dad more. Nothing important, only a tip._"

"_Okay then._" I decided to let him off the hook. "_Now that we know everyone's stories-_"

"_Wait, we have to do you!_" Zak said.

"_Me? Nothing, just woke her up, talked a little, the usual stuff. Now, Newt, disconnect please!_" Once I asked that I heard nothing but my own thoughts, and I let the opinions and mean thoughts I was storing (so the little kids wouldn't hear) flow in for relief. The thing I wanted to think about more was mainly Fang's thoughts. I knew that look from somewhere, but how? I just didn't want to think about it with everyone missing, but then Newt might tease me some more or something. Maybe a boy gave that look to me? Nah, it couldn't be.

"So what do we do today?" Max asked the whole room.

"Mr. Denton wants us to give you a tour of the mansion. That should take most of the day, and you can do whatever you want for the rest of today. Sound good?" I stated. The Flock responded with "yes's" and nods, and we kept on clearing the table and bringing in more food. In case you were wondering, yes, our parents were eating during our little check-in (okay, it was a long one) so you can't help but admire their appetite. I can't eat too much, I have human in me somewhere, and the genies eat a lot but not as much as hybrids, so I always finish meals earliest (because Newt inherited something from Uncle Matt called a bottomless stomach).

**POV Jake**

"Mr. Denton wants us to give you a tour of the mansion. That should take most of the day, and you can do whatever you want for the rest of today. Sound good?" Tali told our parents. They all agreed in some way and continued shoveling food in their mouths. But not before I noticed something. Before Tali went to pick up a plate and before Rina re-began eating, they both tossed their hair over their right shoulder. I've seen Tali do it so many times I hardly noticed it (except for the little part of me that said it was kinda cute), this was the first time I've seen her and her mom do it simultaneously. Weird.

The day wasn't too eventful. I gave dad a tour of the mansion, we met Tali and mom and decided to put our tour groups together, we all cleared the table again for lunch (that look dad was giving mom was so embarrassing to have my friends see because it was the exact same look I gave to Tali when I was looking at her) and listened to Aunt Nudge and Aunt Angel talk about ponies, we did some more chores after lunch, we served dinner to our parents, and Zak, Newt, and I started clearing the table when Iggy asked to pull dad aside.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked dad. "Alone please?" he added so us three "servants" couldn't listen in. Good call on his part, Newt might let us spy on their conversation.

"Actually, Iggy, take Gazzy with you when you talk." Rina told him. She was taking Tali with her to talk about something, and I wished I could have come with her to give some moral support, but that would be too suspicious, so I had to stay, make Newt spy on her, and pray that she was okay.

"Fine, Gazzy, you come too." Iggy took dad and Gazzy from the room, Rina took Tali away, mom went with Aunt Nudge and Aunt Angel to pick out ponies with Syd and Shell eagerly leading the way (like they didn't play with their ponies all the time in the future), and that left me, Newt, and Zak to take in the dishes. Newt caught up with me when I left the table with the second load.

"_Jake?_" he asked me.

"_Yeah?_"

"_I was wondering, could we have a game night tonight?_"

"_Shouldn't you be asking Tali this?_"

"_Not yet. I wanted to run a few games by you before I ask._"

"_Okay, shoot._"

"_Spin the bottle?_"

"_No._"

"_Truth or dare?_

"_No way_"

"_Seven minutes in heaven?_

"How about seven hours in pain if you don't shut up about the kissing games?" I forgot about the mind reading and almost shouted it out loud to a perfectly calm Newt. At least we were alone in the dinning room, so only he and Zak could hear me. Speaking of Zak, he looked like an astronaut just crashed into the ceiling.

"What kissing games?" he asked unknowingly.

"Newt here is trying to do a game night with nothing but kissing games in it. So when he suggested seven minutes in heaven I suggested- well, you know." Anger was radiating from my body. How could Newt want to do these accursed games? He'll try to make me do something to Tali!

"Jake, if you haven't noticed, I'm the one with super strength and healing. It would be only seven seconds of pain, if that." Newt replied calmly, with a small hint of self-satisfaction.

"Newt, if you haven't noticed, we're supposed to be using other names." I growled, still mulling over his response to my death wish for him. Curse his genie mother, couldn't she just have him without the powers?? Wait, then Tali wouldn't have any either. Maybe she should get all the powers and Newt get none. Then she could use the other half of her powers and see that I really like her, and then I wouldn't have to admit anything embarrassing. Wow, rereading that last paragraph, that was a ramble for Zak! Or Aunt Nudge.

"But she doesn't have the powers that make it obvious that you like her, so I'm trying to get her to see it anyways." Newt read my mind.

"Gee, thanks for the support." I said, using sarcasm for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"What're friends for?" He patted my shoulder. "So are you sure you don't want to pick at least one of the games to do?"

"Games?" Zak perked up. "I'm in!"

"You don't want these games." I told him.

"No, he might want them. He could get something from that one girl he was thinking about in math class." Zak reddened at Newt's comment.

"Oh yeah? You might get something from Maddy if we invite her over!" YES, Newt turned pink! Go Zak! Even though I don't know who the hell Maddy is.

"Great job, man." I ruffled Zak's hair. "Finally, someone makes him blush!"

"That's beside the point!" Newt retorted. "Dude, I know you want my sister. I think it's fine. I also think you two should get together as soon as possible. But first you need to see that you like her and she likes you! Why can't you see that?"

"Because she doesn't! I see the way she looks at me, she only likes me as a brother, like you are." I snapped back.

"And that's the opinion I'm trying to change." Newt appeared unphased, dang his stupid calm-ness.

"Hey, you two are supposed to be working!" We swiveled around to see the cook, maroon in the face and ready to kill, complete with a frying pan in her hand. Newt, Zak, and I scurried to get more plates in and ignore the vulture gaze of the cook. But when we were out of distance, I just had to get a last word in and caught up to Newt.

"Who's Maddy, your girlfriend?" I smirked and jogged ahead before he could murder me.

**POV Newt**

"Who's Maddy, your girlfriend?" Jake smirked and ran away before I could vent my wrath unto him. Instead I turned to Zak.

"How'd you find out about her, anyways?" I snarled, trying not to sound too mad and scare away my "bomb buddy", as he used to be known as.

"You say some pretty cool stuff when you sleep. I could only guess who you were talking about, since Jake keeps on saying 'Tali'."

"Dang it." I moaned. "What else?"

"Something about powers. You were like talking to her and saying "lucky I got time powers" or something like that. But you don't have time powers, so it was a dream." Zak shrugged, dropped the dishes in the foam, and went to get more. I just stood there, watching him walk away, and thinking "_if only you knew, man. If only you knew._"

**POV Tali (during the Newt/Jake/Zak conversation thing) (A/N yes, Newt's POV was pointless, but I figured a reminder was necessary! You're lucky I love you reviewers so much you get bonus content!)**

Mom took me through some halls, obviously having studied the layout of the mansion overnight. Smart, very smart. Now I know why I like advanced classes so much! Well, besides that little resemblance, there was the fact that she looked pretty mad at us, which was an unusual occurrence.

Mom shoved me into a broom closet near the furnace so we wouldn't be able to be heard even if mom didn't use her powers to cover it up. I sat on a package of toilet paper (which really was two times stronger like the label suggested, because it didn't sag), and mom leaned on the wall, ready to use force at any moment. If she really needed to use it, she'd be in for a surprise.

"Yes, Rina?" I asked perkily, trying to ignore the fact that she was looking me up and down for a kink.

"Iggy and I were talking last night." She began. Correction, they were talking IN BED. As in TOGETHER. Already! Still think that's weird. "I told him that I couldn't read your minds, which I can't. I don't trust people I can't read. I don't know what they'll do. They might be dangerous to my friends. No, I mean to say, _you_ might be dangerous to my friends. You aren't, are you?" Great, the first test. I prayed that Newt disabled mom's lie detector for me. Why would I lie about not harming our parents, you ask? Because we might end up harming them anyways.

"No, of course we're not. Why can't you read our minds?" I asked without a hint of knowledge in my voice.

"I don't know. I can't get a background check on you, or find where you came from, or even find what your last names are. It's like you came out of nowhere for no purpose and with no background." Wow, Newt really did a complete job!

"You only got one out of the three things right. We came out of nowhere, but we have a purpose and a background. Just none you can know about." I said out loud, more for myself than mom. But sadly, she heard.

"Why can't we know?" she dared me to answer.

"No reason." I shrugged. "Private, personal, we blocked it because we can, you know. Same reason the Flock didn't tell about their names when they got adopted."

"And another thing, how do you know so much about us? Fang only gave Mr. Denton the general story, not little details like Anne's adoption." CRAP! Mom's good, I'm an idiot, that settles it.

"Uh…I know a lot of things you can't know about yet? Yeah, that. For example, you don't know who Tali is." I slapped my hand onto my head. I spilled too much already!

"Tali? What's a Tali?" Mom asked. What do you mean "what's a Tali?"? It's the name of your daughter, of course! But I wasn't allowed to tell her that yet. What came out was the following:

"It's my name."

"But your name is Demi. Isn't it?"

"No. That's my fake name." I covered my mouth with my hands this time just like Syd and Shell would do to Zak. How could I say that?

"So your real name is Tali?"

"Mh hm." I nodded through the closed mouth. Shut up Tali, shut up shut up shut up!

"Do the other five use fake names?"

"Mh hm. But that's all I'll say on the subject." I unclamped my hands from my mouth to say that.

"How come?"

"We're not supposed to tell anyone but you. So don't tell anyone, and I mean anyone, not even Iggy." Iggy? Not dad? I remembered! Finally my brain catches on!

"But I tell everything to Iggy!"

"That's good. Builds trust when you tell everything to him. But don't tell him about this conversation." I knew mom would keep the secret, and I knew it would kill mom to keep the secret, but it had to be done.

"But if I'm not allowed to tell anyone, shouldn't I at least know a little more so I can see why I can't tell? Otherwise I'd see no reason not to tell, and then people would wonder all about what you said and eventually figure out what you're keeping from us." Huh? I paused for half a second to think it over.

"So basically I need to tell you more or you tell?"

"Precisely." She's a tricky one. Newt has been taught well.

"Fine, then. Here's a hint. The reason we use fake names is to protect our identities so you don't recognize us." This was sorta fun, like a game we were playing, and I couldn't stop helping her win because I love her.

"We'd recognize you? I don't think we've met six kids before, unless you're talking school friends." Hahaha, school friends, that's a good one! Oh, wait, she was serious.

"We might be." That's right, follow the false trail!

"Anything else to tell me? Because I'm still lost."

"What else do you need to know?" Perfect, now I go back to good old gullible Tali who won't shut her pie hole and ruin the future.

"How about why you're here in the first place?" Funny, I thought she'd want to know more about who we are.

"Well, we need to protect you from…no. No way. That's going to far, I couldn't give a hint that would work and not reveal us. I said too much!" About time my brain caught up with my mouth. Good Tali, here, have a cookie! (grabs cookie from random person in audience)

"Look, why do you even have to use hints in the first place? There can't be a lot for a group of kids to hide." Oh mom, there's so much to hide.

"Actually, there's a lot to hide. We need to give hints because we're not sure you could handle the truth. Not now, anyways. When the time is right we'll tell you. But I'm not saying any more. I've said too much already."

"But what are you protecting us from?" My mouth didn't even move. If it did, I'd talk, she'd find out, and the worst thing possible could happy. I felt like one of those people who knew something extraordinary about a kid and the kid asked what it was and the person couldn't tell them then. You know, like in Harry Potter, with Dumbledore and Harry towards the end of the first book (surprise surprise, Harry Potter is still popular, even in the next generation). Mom turned to go, but suddenly I remembered something and exclaimed "Wait!"

"What?" She turned around, probably hoping for another clue.

"You forgot to swear not to tell." Mom's face fell a little. I couldn't blame her, I was probably driving her crazy.

"Fine. What would convince you that I won't tell?"

"Well, a genie swear for starters, and do it during a pinkie-swear-cross-your-heart to make it extra official."

"What's a pinkie-swear-cross-your-heart?"

"It's when you make a pinkie swear with your right hand and then cross your heart with the same pinkie you swore on. Say the genie swear while you do the pinkie swear, and you've got one unbreakable vow." Dang, I forgot that's a futuristic thing! But at least she didn't notice and agreed.

"Fine." I held out my right pinkie, and she took it. Even our skin was the same shade. "I, Rina-"

"No, you need to use your full name!"

"Ugh, do I have to?" Wow, mom hates her full name just like I do! No offense to her, of course, she did pick it and all, but we both prefer the nicknames.

"Yes."

"Fine, I, Sabrina Carissa Bailey, do solemnly swear to never tell the information I have heard from-"

"Natalie Demetria." I told her. I didn't use my last name, but that would reveal too much, and then she could do a background check and find out so much more. An unofficial swear was a lot better than more knowledge.

"On this evening of June thirteenth." We took our pinkies away and crossed our hearts with them. "Natalie Demetria is your full name?" Mom inquired. I decided to straight-out lie just this once (well, out of many times, actually, but this would be the first time) since she didn't seem to detect them.

"I never knew my last name, and Demetria is my middle name. We're orphans."

"You are? I'm sor- wait, you're lying!"

"What?" The lie detector worked?

"I have powers other than mind reading, and one of them is detecting lies. You're not orphans. But who are your parents, then? And what's your last name?" No! I'm in too deep. Suddenly I felt trapped, like how dad described claustrophobia. Mom was going to force this out of me. She knew I was hiding something. It was all too much, I had to get out of there!

"Bye Rina! Nice talking with you!" I pried the door open, ran through the hall, and out of sight before mom could even catch up. For some reason she didn't catch me, and I just kept running. I was always fast, though never as fast as Newt, and I zoomed past servants, visitors, and furniture, just trying to get away. To where, I didn't know, from whom, I couldn't stop remembering. Just away.

My feet eventually delivered me to the gardens. I came here before tons of times. This was where dad proposed to mom, where Fang proposed to Max, where mom found out that dad was kidnapped, and of course, the six of us came over to skate and play millions of times. So many memories may have been too much pressure to others, but it made me relax just a little. I slumped onto a bench that I'd read books on while Jake, Newt, and Zak skated and the twins played around in the flowers. Mom's words were still ringing in my ear. "_Look, why do you even have to use hints in the first place? There can't be a lot for a group of kids to hide._"

"Oh mom, there's so much to hide." I whimpered. "There's so much to hide." There were so many thoughts running through my head like a movie, of my friends and family laughing together, of mom trying to force some answers out of me, of the look Fang was giving Max, of Jake thinking of his first meeting with his dad. I knew how he felt right now. How could I be so stupid, risking our cover like that? If anyone knew about us too early, strange things could happen to the future, just one change could alter everything. So much pressure. No room for mistakes. And I couldn't even let it show that I was scared. Well, actually it was scared, nervous, and pressured. It was just too much, so I did something I rarely do for the sake of my reputation. I cried.

"Tali?" Through my bitter tears, I heard someone whispering my name. I prayed it wasn't Syd or Shell or Zak, they didn't need to see me like this. Also, I think I remember hoping that it wouldn't be Newt or Jake either, just because I didn't want them to see a tough girl like me breaking down.

"Tali, are you okay?" There it was again, that soft voice. My eyes were red, but when I peered up I saw a dark shadow looming over me and blocking the last few rays of the sun. Jake. Just the person I needed to see me bawling like a baby. I looked back down about as abruptly as when I looked up, and then the sudden heat on my left thigh told me that Jake had seated himself next to me. My tears were on a roll now, so they didn't stop leaking. I couldn't help it, it was just that I messed up, and now I was making a big scene about it in front of my best friend.

Hesitantly Jake stroked my hair, which didn't seem to help all that much. He drew back, paused for a moment, and then suddenly a pair of very strong arms was around my shoulders. I accepted the embrace and absentmindedly leaned closer, before I realized that this was Jake I was currently tangled up in. But what did I care? When you're upset, you're allowed to turn to your best friend for a hug, even if it's a guy. I just snuggled in closer to his chest, inhaling his scent and crying the last of my sobs. Finally, when I was calmed enough, I looked up to Jake's semi-concerned (being pretty emotionless and all) face.

"I messed up, Jake." I sighed. "I messed up big. I gave mom some info that she could use to find out about us."

"And you're crying because of that?" Jake murmured and I slowly nodded. "I think you're forgetting that I'm the KING of screw-ups. I talk too much around dad, remember?" I gave a watery smile at the memory. "You know, we really have to stop making this such a big deal."

"Maybe we're so special that we're allowed to do it on occasion." I mumbled. Of course, about that time I got sane enough to notice that I was being hugged by Jake, so I pulled away. Jake wasn't too good at hiding his disappointment (disappointment? Okay…) though, so I just pretended I was stretching and then snuggled into his chest again. Weird, I know, but I kinda missed being away from him, anyways.

"So how did it go?" Jake asked slowly, waiting to see if I was going to start crying. But praise the lord, my eyes stayed (relatively) dry!

"Better than yours, I'm pretty sure." I teased, and Jake narrowed his eyes as I let slip a giggle. I'm well enough to torment Jake! Yay me!

"Lemme rephrase. Let anything important slip?"

"Well, I kinda told her my real name," I took a moment to blush, then settled down and told the rest. "And she almost found out about the other fake names, and now she knows that we're here to protect them from something. But that's it." No matter how much I tried to convince myself that it wasn't a big deal, the tears came back, and I was crying all over again.

"It's not so bad." Jake mumbled into my hair. About now his left hand was on my arm, his right arm was still wrapped around me, and his face was slowly working its way down to my face. He adjusted my position a bit so that my head was turned towards him. What the hell was he doing? Well, I thought that up until the point where I was facing him, then it was more like emptiness because he was RIGHT THERE. Like two inches away from me. With his eyes just staring at me. And his hair just begging to be touched. What the heck am I supposed to do in a situation like this one?

My apparent answer: go with the flow. The next time I opened my eyes, my right hand was in Jake's hair, the other around his neck, and we were even closer than the previous two inches. But for some reason I couldn't bring myself to realize that this WAS, after all, my best friend…with the most perfect eyes ever…that were staring into mine…okay, maybe there was a reason I didn't let go.

Warning: if you should be reading this aloud to your little kid sibling because they are too lazy to read it themselves **(A/N happens to me all the time. :P)**, then please skip ahead a paragraph or two or five. Seriously, I mean it, you won't hurt my feelings one bit. It's just that the next scene gets a little graphic, and I just don't want to be blamed. Also, I'm not sure if I'm too proud of what happened next.

Maybe Newt was messing with our minds secretly, maybe someone attached me to Jake with an invisible line, or maybe I was going completely insane, but we just kinda held our position for a few seconds, and then…

He kissed me. Just like a snap of the fingers, his lips were on mine. My eyes opened wide, but after a second I just relaxed and let it all slide. Man, it felt so right! Eventually my hands were tangled in his silky hair and he forced himself onto me, like he thought I was about to break until then. My god it was bliss.

And of course, because fate is so cruel, my brain finally caught up to me, and I remembered that Jake was just supposed to be a friend comforting his friend who happened to be a girl. We were supposed to be just sitting next to each other, not in…THIS position! I pulled away abruptly, and Jake and I just stared at each other, panting. I looked into his eyes, his flawless blue eyes, and for a moment I saw everything, how happy he was and yet so confused at the same time. Why did I want to stop? I didn't answer him or myself. I just knew I couldn't do this, for whatever reason. We were just catching our breath and waiting for the other's reaction.

Well, you'd think we were waiting for reactions, and for all I knew maybe he was, but I know no such thing as reaction. I have instincts. So basically I did the thing I do naturally. I ran away, leaving a recovering Jake behind me.

**POV Jake**

I'll bet you a thousand bucks Newt was manipulating me, and I actually have a thousand bucks to bet with. I don't get that close to Tali and then kiss her out of nowhere! But sadly I did just that. I kissed her. No one's supposed to get so close to such a beautiful girl! I could have broken her or something, but once my lips were on hers she pressed closer to me, practically begging for more. I decided to grant her wish and we kissed like that for what was really a few seconds but seemed like a lifetime. For a moment there I was in Tali heaven.

Then about as quickly as we started kissing, Tali pulled away. We sat there, panting and staring at each other, waiting for something to happen. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but I don't think I was expecting her to run away like she just did. I witnessed her turn around the bend, her brown hair flying wildly behind her, and then she was gone. For a moment I just sat there, not sure who to be more mad at, me or Tali. I settled on me.

"Crap. CRAP!" I yelled the word over and over again and punched the back of the metal bench. Note to self: don't punch inanimate objects unless it's a punching bag. My knuckles were scraped raw, but I just kept punching the same spot distractedly. How could I do this? This was the first time I did something so drastic, so if she wasn't scared away then she will be now. Idiot, Jake, you idiot! I may as well shut myself from the rest of the world.

Eventually I stopped punching the back of the bench and examined my work to distract myself from the bloody knuckles. I left a familiar dent about two inches across and half a centimeter deep. Notice I called it familiar. That was because I saw that all the time when I was a little kid. I never thought that I caused it.

"Oh." Well, that certainly proves the influence we have.

**POV Tali**

Okay, that was officially the weirdest and yet most enjoyable part of my life. The kiss was amazing, but what would everyone else say? Sure, his eyes were gorgeous, even when they were wondering why we couldn't do more, but DID he want to do more? And yeah, maybe I'm ignoring that little voice at the back of my head saying I know I want to, but this is JAKE. I highly doubt he'd do something so…not Jake. God, I need to stop thinking about him, Newt might pick up my thoughts, and besides, focusing on something other than the guy I just kissed would be good for me.

I got to the kitchens late to pick up our dinners (for the record Newt was cleaning the table, Jake probably joined him about now, and the little kids were in our attic), so it was nice and almost empty, which was just the way I liked it. I got in line and grabbed a tray full of leftover food from the cook, and was about to go upstairs when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey!" I turned around to see a girl about my height strolling towards me with a boy a few inches taller behind her. The girl had brown, wavy hair (like mine but darker and without the highlights) and hazel eyes, and the boy was a brunette with darker eyes. Jake's hair, kinda. Except Jake's hair was kinda shaggier and I had a much better grip on his…how am I doing trying not to think about him?

"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't remember seeing you here before." The girl smiled friendlily at me.

"I eat in my room." I avoided her eyes. I could have sworn no one so much as glanced at me, but this weird girl was seriously proving me wrong.

"Well maybe you should try eating down here for a change." She told me and led me over to the next-to-desolate table she and her friend was sitting at.

"No, I need to-" I was trying to protest, but the boy helped her and they pulled me over. What the heck were these strangers trying to do to me?

**Well, I'm not usually one to leave you at a cliffie (HA!) but I figured I may as well give you a sneak peek at how the next chapter is going to begin since you guys are having such outstanding patience with me. THANK YOU to everyone, please forgive me for being so late, and PLEASE review! Even a "kiss was crappy, go climb in a hole" will do. Well, not really, but at least you told me so venting feelings is good. Reviews please!**

**Note: this may seem not too good, but that's because I was so desperate to please you guys and update tonight that I'm not going to edit. I still have email to get to!**


	7. Relationships

**Hi everyone! I'm updating mainly because Bubble Blower sent me a PM asking me to update. (sigh) Man, it's been more than a month since I last updated! Stupid real life, it confuses the heck out of me and takes up all my possible updating time! To make this up to you guys, I'm going to combine not one, not two, but THREE chapters together, and I think I'll do a songfic too, that's how much you guys mean to me!**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and those people are Green.Winged.Mistress, Bubble Blower, Evil Angel of DOOM, MaxRideNut, S.L. Michaels, and ghj1. Since you all reviewed, you get COOKIES! I love cookies, and I shall share that love with the people who took the time to tell me what they thought of the chapter.**

**Now, on another note, I'm getting so frustrated. It's so sad because I'm only getting, what, six reviews to a chapter? Four? Those people who persistently review are pretty much my idols, but come on people, I know you're out there! What do you think of this? I'm going insane here not knowing. Especially since it takes me forever to write these, can't I have a few more reviews? Please? I know you all can write these, you've done it before, I used to get like seven to a chapter and now I'm only getting like four. More reviews, PLEASE!**

**Disclaimer: I'm too grouchy to do it.**

**Tali: Tough.**

**Zak: You gotta say it or they're gonna sue you! And an author in jail isn't exactly good for our story.**

**Me: Well then you say it!**

**Zak: Me?**

**Newt: No, you don't want him to say it, he won't stop saying it. Here, I'll do it. Roughdiamond5 does not own Maximum Ride or the characters or the plot, but she thinks she owns me and my friends and sister, so don't steal us. (to roughdiamond5) There, happy?**

**Me: Somewhat.**

**Syd: Well what are you going to do now?**

**Me: Oh, right, thanks Newt!**

**Shell: No, the other thing.**

**Me: Take a nap? No, it's too late for a nap, I'll just wait until I go to bed.**

**Syd, Shell: No, the other thing!**

**Me: Eat?**

**Zak: UPDATE!**

**Me: Aww, but I'm too lazy.**

**Tali: I'll pay you twenty bucks.**

**Me: Here's the chapter! Now fork over the money.**

**Chapter 7: Relationships (A/N we all know I'm bad at titles)**

**Super-Great-Extra-Long-Triple-Update-Time Part 1**

**POV Tali**

"_Hey!" I turned around to see a girl about my height strolling towards me with a boy a few inches taller behind her. The girl had brown, wavy hair (like mine but darker and without the highlights) and hazel eyes, and the boy was a brunette with darker eyes. Jake's hair, kinda. Except Jake's hair was kinda shaggier and I had a much better grip on his…how am I doing trying not to think about him?_

"_Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow._

"_I don't remember seeing you here before." The girl smiled friendlily at me._

"_I eat in my room." I avoided her eyes. I could have sworn no one so much as glanced at me, but this weird girl was seriously proving me wrong._

"_Well maybe you should try eating down here for a change." She told me and led me over to the next-to-desolate table she and her friend was sitting at._

"_No, I need to-" I was trying to protest, but the boy helped her and they pulled me over. What the heck were these strangers trying to do to me?_

"Come on, one meal here is all. I'm Katie, and this is James." She introduced them, and the boy, James, nodded.

"Hi." He said.

"I'm…Demi. Bye." I left the tray on the table and tried to leave and come back for the food later, but they held fast.

"Why do you want to leave so bad?" James asked.

"My friends need food too." I mumbled.

"Well then bring them here! You don't have to be a servant for anyone but Mr. Denton." Katie said.

"No, we like eating in our room. I'm not sure they'd even want to come." I tried to get myself out of this.

"Can we come then?" Katie inquired, even though I desperately wished her to just leave me alone so I wouldn't have to act weird. I wanted so eagerly to say "no", but what came out was "lemme see", and my legs carried me to the attic with Katie and James despite my brain's protests.

"Hey guys." I opened the door enough to squeeze myself in after motioning for the two to wait.

"Where's the food?" Syd groaned. "I'm starved!"

"I'll get your food in a minute. But first I want to know something." I told them, speaking softer so the people outside couldn't hear what I was saying.

"What?" Syd and Shell asked.

"There are two people outside this door," I was muttering by this point. "who want to eat with us for some reason. Would you like them to join dinner? I'll understand if you say n-"

"YES!" They both said at the same time, and I cocked my head.

"Why?" was the first word that came from my confused mind.

"We haven't seen other people in _so long_!" Syd exclaimed.

"We want to talk to people who aren't like us for once!" Shell decided.

"Can we, Tali? Pleeeeease?" Zak asked. Wait, ZAK? I swiveled around to see Zak giving me Bambi eyes, and by this point, the three kids were giving me their own versions of Bambi eyes. "I came up to tell you Newt and Jake are on their way. But can we pleeeeease have them over for dinner?" Zak explained and begged at the same time.

"Oh, fine. Gimme a sec." I moaned and slid the door open. "They said yes." I told Katie and James, and they came in. Syd, Shell, and Zak eyed them suspiciously.

"Hello." Katie gave a wave.

"Guys, meet Katie and James. Katie, James, these are Syd, Shell, and Zak." My eyes widened when I realized what I was saying. I forgot the fake names!

"Tali!" Syd and Shell said at the same time, catching my mistake. I turned around and started banging my head on the nearest wall.

"Tali?" James asked. "I thought you were Demi."

"Yes, I am. I'm Tali and Demi." I answered slowly, not ready to meet their eyes.

"Can we tell them since you blew it already, Tali?" Zak beamed, happy to use my real name.

"The names and nothing else. They can't take it." I advised. Zak nodded, took a deep breath, and then exploded.

"Tali really blew it you know she called us Syd, Shell, and Zak but she was supposed to call us those other names, Tara, Skye, and Taylor because those are our fake names and Syd and Shell also screwed it up too because they were supposed to call her Demi but her real name is Tali and while I'm at it I ought to tell you that we have two other friends named Newt and Jake and we're supposed to call them Dylan and Kyle but their real names are Newt and Jake and Newt is Tali's twin brother and Jake is Syd and Shell's older brother and I'm an only kid and I was adopted anyways and mom probably couldn't handle any more kids anyways so I'm an only kid and I'd be really bored if it wasn't for these guys, they're my best friends in the whole wide world and we do everything together because our parents are friends and our latest adventure is making up these fake names and traveling back in-" by this point Syd and Shell were smart enough to cover his mouth up, and they did it so hard Zak couldn't even try to protest. Katie raised an eyebrow.

"But why fake names?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, that's classified information." I cut in before Zak could talk again. Syd's stomach gave a rumble.

"Who's hungry? I know I am." She asked the room, and Shell and Zak nodded fiercely in agreement.

"Fine, I'll go get the trays." I started down the stairs without as much as a glance to Katie and James. Don't get me wrong, I think they meant well, but when you grow up hearing stories of deception from your own parents, you learn to be a little paranoid about strangers. On the way down the hall, I ran into none other than Newt and Jake, and before I could open my mouth Newt (the big showoff) read my mind and spoke.

"We've got two servants named Katie and James in our room who want to eat with us, Syd, Shell, and Zak said yes, they're all waiting for food, and you and Jake are trying to avoid each other because of your first kiss with each other." Jake and I stared at him for a brief second.

"Showoff." I finally said to him. "Don't mention the last part to the kids."

"Of course not, my dear sister. Now would you like some help carrying those trays of food up?" Newt smirked and turned in the direction of the kitchens, leaving Jake and I trailing behind. We refused to look at each other the whole time, and it was hard, but I think I managed alright. Wait, no I didn't, it was more like trying to avoid a UFO casting its shadow straight over you. How the heck was I supposed to avoid this guy? I saw him every hour. Okay, my rant is done now.

Once we were upstairs with eight trays heaped in food, I opened the door to find Syd, Shell, Katie, and James laughing at Zak's antics, which happened to be imitating people's voices. Which we didn't tell our guests about. And yet they were laughing like they knew this kid all their lives!

"ZAK!" I almost yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Crabby much, Tali? Don't worry, I'm just practicing a little ventriloquism. Who came up with that word, anyways? I mean, how do you relate voice mimicking with a big word that doesn't even have the words voice or mimicking in them?" Zak explained and rambled at the same time.

"You have a very entertaining friend, Tali." Katie smiled at Zak. "Do you think you can do me?"

"Well of course!" Zak said in her voice, which was mismatched with his nine-and-a-half-year-old body, which made it all the more humorous to the rest of us. I never really saw James truly laugh in the minutes I've known him, but I got the vibe that he never laughed this much before.

"FOOD!" Syd and Shell finally saw the steaming trays of various foods balanced on mine, Newt's, and Jake's arms and swiped two of them from me before I could set them down on the table. Everyone else followed suit, and eventually we found room for everyone at our meager table (provided a few people had to sit on their knees).

"So Tali, why did you and your friends come to Denton Mansion?" Katie asked in a friendly tone.

"Rumors going around say you're runaways or something." James added.

"Close." Newt finished chewing and filled in for me. "We just kinda heard it's a nice place and we get room and board, so we left our other place and came here."

"But from where?" James asked.

"We'll give you a hint." Syd said.

"It's very modern and close to here." Shell finished.

"Close? The guard said you walked all the way across the county!" Katie exclaimed.

"So we exaggerated a bit." Zak leaned back to drink a bit of milk before diving in again.

"So seriously, where?" James sounded a bit impatient.

"What is this, Interview the New Kids Day?" Newt matched his tone. "We'd rather not say specifically. Okay?" At least Newt made it clear that this shouldn't be brought up again. Everyone resumed eating for a few minutes, then Katie turned to Zak, who was on her right.

"Zak?" She asked innocently.

"Hm?" Zak was so preoccupied he hardly gave Katie a second glance.

"I think you like to be funny, don't you?"

"Yup."

"And part of being funny is playing tricks on people, right?"

"I'm listening." Zak finally turned her way.

"I can tell you the plans for the best prank in existence."

"How 'best' is it?"

"Let me put it this way. People will never see it coming in a million years."

"I'm in! What is it?" Zak pleaded eagerly.

"Ah ah ah, not so fast. I just need one little thing from you before I can tell you." Uh oh. About now, everyone was staring at Katie, ready to see what she had in mind.

"And that would be?"

"A question. I think you're bright enough to answer it."

"Well, yeah." Zak beamed. "So, what is it? Tell me tell me TELL ME!"

"Where did you and your friends come from?"

"The- wait, sorry, I can't tell you." Zak turned back to his meal. "Tali'd get really mad at me if I said so, and having Tali be mad at me isn't exactly a good thing unless I have a death wish." Smart kid. I'm flattered.

"Oh honestly Zak, imagine it, you, me, a gullible fool, some water balloons…" Katie tempted Zak too much and he cracked, which really didn't take too much.

"The future. 'Bout fourteen years ahead of you guys."

"ZAK!" Everyone but Katie and James yelled at the same time. Even Jake! And Newt! The people least likely to scold him! Katie and James just stared at him in shock. Of course, Zak was completely oblivious to all of this.

"Where's my prank where's my prank where's my prank where's my prank??" He bounced up and down in the creaky chair, dying to hear diabolical plans for the best trick ever. Of course, Katie was far from sharing it with him.

"You can't really be from the future! Can you?" Katie turned to us older kids.

"Well even for the future we're kinda special, we got wings and Newt and Tali got half the powers ever imagined and Jake and Syd and Shell can fly really really fast and I can imitate voices perfectly which is why Tali was yelling at me because she thought I told you about it and I can also touch things people touched and know all about the people who touched them for example Katie you believe us because you've read a lot of books and you've heard a lot about mutants and you also don't have a plan for me which I just realized and James, you think Katie's- oh wait, I'm getting a death glare from you so never mind but forget the whole thing WHERE'S MY PRANK?? Oh yeah, there is none. No fair! You promised!" Zak just couldn't stop talking and ruining everything. I don't know who got there first, but eventually Syd, Shell, and Newt were all holding a hand over his mouth.

"So," James started. "You're from the future?"

"Mhm." Zak nodded, and the three holding his mouth shut fought to keep his head still.

"But why?" Katie cut in.

"Can't tell you." Syd and Shell panicked and claimed at the same time.

"Let him go guys." Surprisingly this came out of my mouth, and everyone but Jake raised an eyebrow at me. "They know already. They may as well know everything." Slowly, hands came off of Zak's mouth, Syd, Shell, and Newt crept back to their seats, and James and Katie motioned for me to continue.

"We're here," I began. "Because we need to save our parents. Have either of you read Maximum Ride?" Katie nodded.

"It's one of my favorite novels." She stated.

"Mine too, since Katie told me about it." James agreed.

"Well then you should know all about their story. See, there's a little more that James Patterson HASN'T published. They have a genie named Rina, and…" You readers know their story from here, so I'll skip ahead for you. "And then after Iggy and Rina get married, Max learns she's pregnant, and she has a baby boy. And here he is." I pointed my thumb over to Jake.

"Really? This is Max and Fang's son?" Katie inquired disbelievingly.

"Yup." Jake refused to look at them.

"But the eyes. Neither Max or Fang have blue eyes, do they?" James asked.

"Well Jeb does, and Max is Jeb's daughter, and he's Max's son." Newt clarified. "It's all in the genes."

"Moving on, when Jake was about six months old, Iggy and Rina had me and Newt. And since mom is a genie and dad is a hybrid, we kinda got a bit of each. We're 49 percent human, 49 percent genie, and 2 percent bird. We're the first half-genie, half-human twins in history, so we're used to the media." I went on.

"Yeah, just like Mr. Jake Denton, heir to the Denton fortune." Newt nudged Jake playfully.

"So Syd and Shell were born about two years after Jake and Zak was born-"

"No I wasn't!" Zak intervened.

"What do you mean? Of course you were born!" Katie corrected.

"I mean she was going to say that mom and dad, or Nudge and Gazzy, to you guys, when I wasn't!" Zak was still trying to get used to the fact that he was adopted, and apparently he wanted everyone to get used to the idea too.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there." I waved him aside. "We only found out before we came to the past, also known as now, that Zak was adopted. But our parents won't tell us anything about how he came to us, except for the fact that mom gave him wings and powers to be more like his parents. So we grew up, and then a week or so ago, we decided that we wanted to go back in time and save our parents from their enemy, Ari 2, and they said yes, so I took everyone back in time, we got a job at this place, and here we are." The room was quiet for a good amount of time. Katie and James were staring at us like we were crazy, but hunger came first so we were just shoveling the remainder of our food into our mouths.

"You're sure you're not making this up?" Katie asked at long last.

"Why, did you want proof with that story?" Newt said with a mouthful of French fries.

"Sure, let's see it." James agreed.

"Can we Tali?" Syd and Shell asked me, eager to show someone their wings.

"Sure, but I'm not doing the trick." I told them.

"Will you do it when we tell our parents who we are?" Zak requested.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." I leaned back and waited for Syd and Shell to display their wings, which they unfurled as soon as they saw my attention towards them. James and Katie did something a little like a gawk crossed with a gape at the same time, but I suppose you could call it more of an impression of a fish. This was most likely the first time they saw wings on a human up close and personal (unless they knew more about our families than they let on), so I couldn't really blame them.

"And now you know why Tali was so crabby at first." Newt told James and Katie. "She was worried that we'd tell you too much. Among other things at least…" Oh no he did not! I sent Newt a death glare worthy of The Director, and he beamed back, completely unphased. I'll need to ask him later how he does that. But in the meantime, DEATH TO NEWT!

"What do you mean by 'other things'?" Zak pried, and Jake and I both became fascinated in our empty plates.

"Oh no, can't tell you, I'm sworn to secrecy." Newt grinned, and Katie groaned.

"Honestly, you say you told us everything and then we move on and you're sworn to secrecy on another topic! Just tell us already, Lizard Boy!" Everyone turned to look at Katie.

"What?" she asked.

"No one ever called Newt Lizard Boy before." Syd stated.

"It's like no one ever thought of it." Shell included.

"Well then I'm just really bright now. Can I call him Lizard Boy all the time?" Katie smiled a smirk of her own.

"Oh, yes, please." I refused to look at Jake as he spoke, but I could have sworn he was trying not to smile.

"Excellent." Katie started a conversation with Zak about specific tricks, trying to refer to Newt and call him Lizard Boy as often as possible, James joined in, Jake listened silently, Newt was trying to get everyone to stop calling him by his new nickname, and I struck up a small (and nearly silent) side conversation with Syd and Shell about what we thought of the new people.

"So what do you think of Katie and James?" I breathed. Sure, I trusted Katie and James enough by now, but I also wanted to know what Syd and Shell thought of them and I'd rather have them be honest, so…well, you get it.

"Katie is really nice and funny and she tells some great stories!" Shell started in a whisper.

"Plus James is quiet but he doesn't make fun of anyone. And he's a good friend to Katie so he might be a good friend to us!" Syd inserted in the same volume as us.

"So overall you like them?" I concluded.

"Yeah, can we have them over for dinner every night?" They asked at the same time.

"Well, I don't know, we'll have to check their chore schedules." I told them, and their faces fell just a little.

"Wait, what do you think of them, Tali?" Shell wondered.

What DID I think of them? I snuck a glance over to Katie and James. They looked kind enough, good people to talk to and have around. Plus they seemed to be a big hit with the rest of us! "Well, if everyone else likes them, that's good enough for me." I said, and Syd and Shell smiled and turned to join the conversation that the majority of us were participating in.

After a while, everyone was tired, either from all the eating or from the energy used in debating whether or not Newt could fly to the moon and back (without superspeed in flight) before I could fight and win a battle with an Eraser. Finally, James remembered something and started another conversation.

"Hey Tali, you wouldn't happen to know how far your parents are in that story you told us, do you?" James reminded me.

"Hey yeah, good point James! Gimme a sec." I closed my eyes, and thought about what happened with dad and Fang and Uncle Gazzy. A movie was suddenly playing in my head, skipping from scene to scene to save time.

First dad was taking Fang aside. _"I want to talk about Max."_

"_What about her?"_ Fang asked.

"_You two look happy enough. I think it's time you take it to the next level."_

"_And what do you propose I do about it?"_

"_Propose, of course!"_ Uncle Gazzy burst out laughing, then it changed scenes. Now Fang actually seemed to consider this.

"_How sure are you that she'll say yes?"_

"_I'm the boyfriend of a fortune-telling, mind-reading ex-genie. I know for sure."_ Dad said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. They argued a bit more, I think, but the next thing I knew Fang was agreeing.

"_Fine, I'll do it. I'll propose to Max." _Dad grinned and Uncle Gazzy did a dance, but Fang said "_On one condition._" And everyone froze.

"_What condition?"_ Dad asked.

"_You propose to Rina."_ Uncle Gazzy cracked up laughing.

"_Shut up, Nudge-lover, the minute you turn eighteen I'm forcing you to do the same!"_ Dad snapped. _"Now, as I was about to say, WHAT? Propose to Rina?"_ The scenes changed yet again, but I'm certain they debated some more, since that's kind of what they do when talking about their girls.

Dad sighed. _"Fine. I'll propose to Rina too. But you go first, I need to get lessons from Angel on how not to let Rina read my mind and find out about it."_

"_Fair enough. I'll go first."_

"_Shake on it?"_

"_Shake."_ Dad and Fang shook hands and turned to Uncle Gazzy to say something, but the movie turned black, and I came back. It only took a few seconds to view, but I saw a LOT, and it shocked me.

"They agreed to propose." I claimed, hardly being able to believe it. "Fang said he'd propose to Max if dad proposed to their mom later, and dad even said he was going to force Uncle Gazzy to propose to Aunt Nudge when he turned eighteen!"

"YAY!" The girls squealed, even Katie. Newt and Zak exchanged "ew" faces, but they were never going to really understand until they were older. James smiled to show he was happy for us (since this meant we were going to exist and all), and of course Jake hardly showed any emotion at all. Not that I was looking at him or anything…

"Can we see Fang propose, Tali, please, please, please???" Syd and Shell begged.

"Sure, it might actually be kinda fun to witness. Who's in?" Everyone at the table raised their hands, including Jake, and Newt didn't even have to raise his hand for him! There's a record.

"But wait, how are you going to see them without them seeing you?" James inquired. To answer his question, I turned myself invisible and Katie and James stared at where I was supposed to be as I got out of my chair and crept over to a new location.

"I think we'll manage." I reappeared over by the couch, and everyone smiled at my own little trick.

"But wait." Oh no, it was his voice. I had to look at him! But if I pretend I can't hear Jake, then there'll be nothing to look at. "How are we going to keep close to them during the wedding and protect them? Not like they're going to let us be part of the wedding. Right…Tali?" He said my name. Crap, now I have to say something back! So I looked out the window and kept my answer short.

"I dunno, I doubt our parents are THAT cruel. They might let us watch if we play orphan again." Everyone began discussing ways to ask our parents while I stared at the swaying branches outside the window. Still not looking…

"Okay guys, I really hate to break this up, but it's way past bedtime and these guys need to get to sleep." I ruffled up Zak's hair, and he stifled a yawn.

"No it isn't!" Syd and Shell were trying to look awake, but ended up leaning on each other with drooping eyelids.

"You two too, time for bed." I ushered them into the "bedroom" after they each gave a hug to James and Katie. "Newt, Jake, mind help cleaning up?"

"We'll help." James offered.

"Nah, we've got it. Thanks though." I smiled wearily, but Katie grabbed a dish.

"Really, it's fine." She lifted up two trays and starting taking them down to the kitchen, and between us five we got the job done in five minutes. We said goodbye to Katie and James outside of the main servant's quarters.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." I shook James' hand and turned to Katie, who gave me a huge hug, which I returned awkwardly. Not a lot of people besides family hugged me, so this was a change.

"Thank you for having us over for dinner! I loved meeting your friends." Katie finally let go. "Oh, and don't worry, your secret is safe with us."

"Well that's nice. Just don't call me Lizard Boy, alright?" Newt rolled his eyes.

"Oh, no, I think I will." Katie grinned. "Goodnight Tali, Lizard Boy, Jake! Hopefully we'll see each other later!" Katie and James waved and then we were alone in the hall.

"Well, they were nice." Newt stated, and then we went to bed. Notice I didn't say we went to sleep. Now that there weren't any distractions, there was nothing for me to focus on but this evening's latest "first time ever", the first time I kissed a boy. And he was Jake. How could I ever look him in the eye again? I mean, what if things were eternally awkward between us just because of this little kiss? I'd never be able to be in the same room as him.

"_Well, you refuse to look at him, so I'd say you're getting there._"

"_Go away, Newt_."

"_No, I think I'll stay, thank you._"

"_Well do you have to hang around and hear my thoughts?_"

"_Of course, I'm your brother, it's my job!_"

"_Well don't be my brother anymore. I need to think._"

"_No, I think you've done enough of that. Thing is, you need to stop thinking and start doing._"

"_Doing? Doing what?_"

"_Hooking back up with Jake, for starters._"

"_Well how the heck am I supposed to do that?_"

"_Ah, you didn't deny it. Excellent. Anyways, you should probably start by TALKING to him. Nothing's going to get done if you refuse to communicate._"

"_Mhm, what else? I need something to talk about once I talk._"

"_Well here's a crazy idea, but why don't you, oh, I dunno, tell him how you feel about him?_"

"_NO. Any other options?_"

"_I'm going to have to save that for another day, right?_"

"_If another day means never, then yes._"

"_I WILL get you together with Jake, Natalie Griffiths, just you wait._"

"_Yeah, yeah, but now I need options. So what do I say?_"

"_Let's find out. Jake, Jake, wake up man!_ _You'll never guess who I have connected to us._"

"_Newt, this is completely and totally unfair and I won't let you be my brother anymore!_" I whined. But it was too late, Newt was already gone.

"_Okay, Tali, do you know why Newt connected us?_"

"_Uh…not really._"

"_Great, he's being annoying again._" Okay, Jake never talks this much, even in his thoughts.

"_Newt, you do a really bad impression of Jake, so cut it out, I caught you._"

"_Okay, so that was really bad, but it was practice, and since you refuse practice, it's time for the real situation. Jake, wake up!_"

"_Hm?_" I know that sleepy 'hm' anywhere. Newt actually connected me to Jake this time! CRAP!

"_Newt, if you don't disconnect us right now I'm going to-_"

"_Yeah well tough luck because you're connected and I'm not disconnecting you. Now you two, talk, make this all up, and get a good night's sleep! I swear I won't listen in._" And with that, Newt cut his connection to us, and it was just me and Jake.

"_Uh…Jake, I really hope you don't mind, but I'm going to try and get some sleep. I'm exhausted._" I lied to him, but hey, I did NOT want to do this. Not that I was going to think that, because then he'd know how I felt, and it might make him feel hurt.

"_Fine. I'll try too._" But try as I might, I couldn't get the connection cut. Maybe it was something Newt made, so he was the only one who could cut us off. So I tried not to think at all, and it helped, because soon I was fast asleep.

At least, for a little bit. Soon I was roused by Jake's dreams. It was kinda similar to my own visions of the past and the future, expect this one was more like a collage of me. Seriously, there was us at the beach a few years ago, and one of me fighting with Syd and Max…he saw that? But there was one of me just a few hours ago telling our story to Katie and James, and suddenly I was coming closer and closer but I wasn't moving…oh my gosh, that was Jake moving closer to me to kiss me!

"_Jake, wake up!_" The visions vanished, and I heard rustling in the next room. Jake sat up in bed, then laid back down.

"_Yeah Tali?_"

"_You have really loud and really vivid dreams, you know that?_"

"_Yeah. Gotta live with them every night._"

"_Might I ask if they're always about the same thing?_"

"_Most of the time, I think. I can never remember them._"

"_Do you remember the one you just had?_"

"_No._"

"_Maybe you'll still know the answer to my question. Why are you dreaming about me?_"

"_You?_"

"_Me. How come?_"

"_I dunno._"

I sighed. "_Jake, do you just want to forget this whole night never happened? It'd kill everyone else if they knew we were…you know, not talking for that reason._"

"_Sounds good. Can we sleep now?_"

"_Yeah. But can you throw something at Newt and get him to cut the connection?_"

"_Already here, sis._"

"_NEWT!_" Jake and I both thought at the same time.

"_Well I had to make sure it was going okay!_" Newt defended himself.

"_Newt, just tell me you weren't pretending to be Jake as 'practice' again._" I moaned.

"_Newt pretended to be me?_" Jake asked me.

"_Yeah, and he did a pretty lousy job of it, too._" I responded. "_Look, I said it. Can we go to sleep now? As in, __in our own minds_"

"_Yeah, yeah, whatever. Night guys._" And after a long time of mental conversation, Newt finally cut the connection, and I fell asleep almost instantly. Of course, every now and then I'd get a flashback of Jake's arms around me and his kisses, but still, it was sleep, and I wasn't going to let anything, not even Jake, stop me from getting it.

**A few minutes later**

**POV Newt**

Ah, a job well done. I got Jake and Tali to apologize! They were never going to get together if they didn't talk, so I had to break down a few barriers, which I did a pretty good job at, so go me. Of course, sleep took over me considering I stayed up listening to Jake and Tali's dreams and conversations to see if they were going to cooperate.

But this time, I hardly got any sleep before I suddenly lost my blanket. Zak needs to learn to share! I reached over to my right to try and steal a snatch of blanket from him, but I only felt air. Did Tali transport him somewhere else in her sleep? It's been known to happen, I once woke up in Italy because of her sleep-transport. Or maybe she transported ME? I opened my eyes to see which one was true. Apparently it was the last one, because it was cold and bright here, and a man was staring down at me. Jeb.

"Hi Jeb. Got a transporter on you somewhere?" I mumbled sleepily, too tired to hold a grudge right then.

"Actually, here it is." He held a metal pad with a plastic button on it in front of my face. "We needed to have some way to get you here every week for your checkup."

"Checkup?" Now I was on full alert and sat up. Apparently I was on a hospital bed, complete with hospital surroundings and that awful smell of…hospital smells, I guess, I never learned what it was exactly.

"Yes, Newt, your checkup. We need to make sure you're doing alright with your new powers so then something bad doesn't happen to you." Jeb explained with that blank expression of his. Now the loathing was starting to come back. "Otherwise you might loose mental abilities or shed some of your other powers, and then we'd loose our only magical hybrid."

"Riiiiight." I tried to make it sound like I was completely ungrateful for everything he did for me. I tried to make myself think _"time powers? Big whoop. Invisibility? Don't need it. You should never have touched me in the first place."_ But still, I really would have missed Maddy… "Jeb, hate to break it to you, but I'm perfectly fine, so you can put away all the surgical equipment-" I tried not to shudder as my eyes met the needles and cutters. "-and just let me go back to my attic." I tried to get up and out of this place.

Jeb chuckled just a little and held me back. "Nice try, Newt, but you never know if you're okay or not. That's for us to decide. So if you'll just excuse me," He got up from his stool next to me and headed for the door. "I'll let the doctors examine you." The door swung open, and three whitecoats, one white male, one white female, and one Chinese male, stared at me.

"This is Subject 14?" The white male asked.

"Yes, this is him, and he needs a checkup. Examine his brain, maybe some running tests to see how his circulation and body control is doing, give him an inoculation to make his body keep accepting the fluids, and then send him back." Jeb commanded, and the three whitecoats nodded and started for me like vultures on a dead rat. I tried to back away and escape out the window, but it was one of those windows that won't open and are only flexi-glass so I wasn't going to be able to break through easily. I resorted to climbing on the ceiling like Spider-Man, and they got a broom and banged on me until I fell to the floor (so inhumane!). Then they strapped me down to the hospital bed with metal bonds, and the female injected me with this weird stuff that made me pass out.

It was kinda black for the surgery, and I think it took them hours to go through my brain and make sure I was working right, but it seemed like only a few minutes before I woke up with a scar that was hardly visible beneath my…hey, they shaved off my hair!

"You, whitecoats, what the hell did you do to my hair?!" I yelled, and they didn't seem to hear me. To get the nearest guy's attention (the Chinese dude), I spit at him and got him in the back of the neck. He swiveled around and gave me one of those "stupid, immature experiment" looks.

"Didn't you hear me, whitecoat? Why am I shaved freaking BALD?" I spat at him.

"We needed to get rid of your hair so we could get through to your brain." He answered simply and turned back to X-ray scans of…was that my brain? So what were all those pockets? Never mind. I didn't even want to know. Instead, to pass the time, I grew my hair out again so I could look normal if and when I got back to my friends. The female saw me in the glass, and soon they all turned around to see me get back to normal and gaped at me some more.

"What, whitecoats don't get to watch hair grow? Or do you just look at clipboards and X-rays all your miserable lives?" I leered, and they went back to business. I almost fell asleep trying to listen to their science mumbo-jumbo. Finally, they came back to me and unstrapped me. About time!

"I'm going home now, right? Because this is fun and all, but I need to leave." I asked. The white male shook his head, and they dragged me out the door and down the halls until we reached a room called "Lab 15". I expected more in a lab than just a whiteboard and a treadmill, but that's all it was, and they shoved me over to the treadmill and strapped me on. The white male set the treadmill for a walking pace, and the belt started moving. This was only too easy! The whitecoat moved it up a notch almost as soon as I started walking, and every few seconds they'd raise the bar until I was jogging as fast as this stupid machine would let me. I could go faster than that, and it was so boring having to be slowed down to this! And the whitecoats made me keep running until one of them had to go and get some coffee to keep them all awake. Then to make things interesting, they kept me running, but unstrapped my hands and gave me two small weights to lift while I was running. It was hardly a challenge, but it gave me something to do.

After an eternity or two, they stopped the treadmill, unstrapped me, and listened to my bird-kid heartbeat, which stayed the same pace as usual. I tried to resist when the woman came up with a needle and some blue-ish liquid in it, but she ended up sticking it inside my arm anyways. This time it didn't knock me out! I didn't feel any different, actually. Then they hauled me back to the room I woke up in, where Jeb was waiting for me.

"How did it go?" Jeb asked the whitecoats, ignoring me completely for once.

"Subject 14 displayed some very unusual, yet most likely typical for his race, functions." The female began.

"He seemed to not show any sign of slowing down during the running tests, and he didn't have any lack of strength, even directly after surgery." The Chinese guy added.

"You call that directly after?" I sneered. "That was hours after I woke up since you took so freaking long with the X-rays."

"Did he cooperate?" Jeb refused to look at me or listen to my comment.

"Well, he struggled a fair amount, but he could have been much worse given the extent of his powers." The man said.

"That will be all, then." Jeb dismissed them, and they all left like robots. He then looked at me, standing there with bare feet and pajamas in the middle of a cold tile floor. "So you seem to be functioning normally."

"I'm not deaf, Jeb." I sent him a death glare. "I'm not some dumb experiment who never learned. I heard them."

"Now Newt, I want you to do something for me before we pick you up again next week." Jeb the Devil leaned closer to me from his stool. "I want you to go a week without seeing Maddy. Or using the powers we gave to you at all, to be thorough."

"WHAT?" I couldn't believe it. I talk to Maddy as much as I can without smothering her! Which, sadly, isn't that often. Why should I listen to him and ignore one of my best friends?

"Newt, we know these abilities haven't changed you in the slightest. They haven't made your brain function irregularly, or made your other powers any different, as far as we've been able to test. Clearly we can't ask you to do any more or we'd keep you too long and your friends would get suspicious. But now we need to know if your body has become dependent on these powers, so we need you to not use them until the next time we see you, so then we can see if anything has changed."

"Well Jeb, hate to break it to you, but you gave me these powers to USE, and I plan to do just that, like it or not. So if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my friends now."

Jeb sighed, and reached for the button. "Just so you know, we have ways of making sure you do as we say. In fact, it's the same way we bring you over here so suddenly. But I won't explain, since you want to go home-"

"It's not home. Home is my time." I almost wanted to add that I wouldn't mind an explanation, but to me that just sounded too much like I was cooperating.

"Fine, then, Denton Mansion. So goodbye, and we'll see you next week." He pressed the button, and instantly I was standing in the middle of the bedroom half of the attic. I crept over to my side of the bed, collapsed, and fell asleep as soon as I hit the mattress. Getting experimented on takes a lot of energy out of you!

**POV Tali (note this was while Newt was being experimented on)**

And yet after what felt like a few seconds, I heard breathing and rustling, which would have been quiet if I didn't inherit dad's super-developed hearing. What the hell do all these people want from me?? Shell better not have had another bad dream. But no, it was mom! What could she want from me at this time of night?

"M-Rina!" I struggled to sit up in bed, hardly realizing that I almost called her mom. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see where you guys live and ask you a question." She answered, still surveying our attic.

"This late?"

"Well, technically this early. And I just couldn't wait to ask you. It has to be now."

"Fine. Have a seat." I swung my legs off the end of the couch and she took the seat next to me. "Now, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you could lift that little swear you made me do."

"What? Why?"

"Well, I hate keeping secrets from Iggy. He's just as anxious as me to know who you are and what you're doing here. And I really want to tell him, it's killing us both to have this secret." Despite all my tomboy reputations and ignorance towards romance and all that stuff, I just couldn't help but think "_Aww, that's so sweet! They're showing signs of affection and trust already!_" Mom almost jumped.

"I can read your mind!" She almost forgot to whisper because of her newfound discovery, and I got furious. "_I'm going to kill Newt. Why does he have to sleep now? Couldn't he have heard her?_"

"Who's Newt?" Mom just couldn't stop reading me like a book, could she?

"No one." "_Why, oh why does she have to be like this?_"

"It's someone. You were going to kill him for not hearing me or something like that. But who is he?"

"I told you, no one."

"It must be someone you know, right?"

"Stop trying to find out!"

"What, I want to know!"

I moaned. Stupid curiosity of ours. "Fine. I'll give you three guesses." "_I'll see what harm it can do later._"

"Is it Kyle?" Who? Oh, right, she's talking about Jake.

"No."

"Is it Taylor?" Zak, I think she meant.

"Nope. One more guess."

"Is it Dylan?" Well because of the process of elimination, that meant she meant Newt. Crap!

"Maybe." "_Dang it!_" She smiled, happy that she figured it out.

"He's Newt? Aww, that's so cute! Instead of Dylan and Demi you're Newt and Tali. Did you pick your own names? And what are Taylor and Kyle's real names if Dylan's is Newt?" I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her that she and dad picked our names. And she was never going to figure out their names! I wasn't going to screw up again!

"Kinda. And I shouldn't tell you their names."

"Why not?"

"Look, never mind about the names." "_She better not ask about Jake and Zak again._"

"Are their names Jake and Zak?" I could tell mom was enjoying this. She was never like this at home!

"Stop reading my mind! Didn't you want to get rid of this swear?" And since she could read my mind, I took that to my advantage and sent her a message. "_Please play along! They'll kill me if they found out I told you about their names!_"

"Yeah, I want to get rid of the swear. But why would they kill you?"

"Because you're not supposed to know!" I'm surprised I remembered to whisper with all this anger boiling up inside me. How could she not get the point and drop it and leave it alone?

"It's only simple curiosity. I only want to know for the sake of knowing."

"No! If I take away the swear will you leave the matter alone?"

"It might help. Now which one is Jake?"

"Fine, I'll level with you! There never was a swear. I didn't use my full name, so it doesn't count. You could have told him anyways. There! Swear gone! Get out!"

"Is it Kyle? I thought he looked like a Jake, if not a Mini Fang." Let me see, how much would the future change if I killed my own mother?

"Well you'll never know, now, will you?" I concluded that I couldn't stand her anymore, what with her access to my mind and my spilling of secrets, so I hauled her over to the door. Dang, mom got a growth spurt somewhere along the line! She almost dwarfed me.

"I've got it figured out! Kyle is Jake and Taylor is Zak! Nice names, I like them."

"Quit finding out or I'll put the swear back on!" Okay, I couldn't really do that without waking Newt up and making him control her mind so she'd cooperate, but frustration got the better of me and I just threatened impossible things.

"Fine, I'll go. But on one condition."

"I'm not telling you their names."

"Not that." Hallelujah!

"What then?"

"Ask Jake what he was dreaming about tonight." Huh? Okay, so why would she care what he was dreaming about?

"Huh?" _Why did I never know she was this annoying?_

"You'll see. I could show you right now, if you want."

"No thanks, I think I'll just show you something. The door." I opened the door to display the universal "please leave before I make you" sign.

"Fine. But ask him. And thanks for telling me the swear wasn't real!" Mom happily poofed out of our attic, probably to go tell dad everything. At least I put up more of a fight this time. And about these dreams of Jake's, they better not be about me again, otherwise I was going to have to…oh forget it, I didn't know what to do with him.

As I crawled back to bed, exhausted, I sneaked a peek into the future. Tomorrow, mom was going to freeze time and ask me if I knew what Jake was dreaming about. I was going to tell her that he wouldn't say, and she was going to claim that he dreamed about me. Both the "me" in the future and the "me" that was watching the me in the future were standing there with our jaws dropped down to our toes. He did it AGAIN? What could this mean? Did he…no, impossible. Even after that kiss, that was just to make me feel better, nothing else. Right? I stayed up until dawn trying to think it through, and still didn't come up with any answers at all.

**HA, I remembered Rina's visit at the last moment! Yay me! Please review, and Super-great-extra-long-triple-update-time parts 2 and 3 will be up soon!**


	8. We're WHAT?

**Disclaimer: I don't own the songs that are going to be mentioned and quoted at the beginning. If only!**

**Chapter 8: We're WHAT?**

**Super-Great-Extra-Long-Triple-Update-Time Part 2**

**POV Jake**

I won't spare you readers the gory details of my parents' proposal, but we witnessed it, the boys thought it was gross, and the twins thought it was kinda cute. Of course Tali and I just watched it, emotionless, and I would have killed to know what she thought of it. Would have asked Newt, but he would have said "what, wondering what she'll think when you propose to her?" or something like that.

We stayed up pretty late to watch that proposal, though, so it kinda sucked when Tali was shaking me awake in what seemed like minutes later. "Wake up, guys, it's another day, gotta face it. I'm taking a shower, so Newt, Jake, get breakfast." I could have sworn Tali gave me a "good morning" smile before she left through the gap that served as the door, and that made me awake enough to stand up. Zak went down to see if his clothes were clean yet, Syd and Shell were getting dressed, and Newt and I were bringing up breakfast, drinking coffee, and trying to stay awake for this god-forsaken hour. Suddenly, Zak crashed through the door and made me and Newt jump.

"GUYS, GUYS, you'll never guess what I just heard!" He skidded into the half-room, looking astonished and proud at the same time. Newt gaped.

"No way!" He exclaimed, not sounding completely awake, but close enough to sound surprised.

"Yes way!" Zak bragged back.

As Syd and Shell weren't out yet, I had to be the one to ask. "Mind explaining for those who can't read minds?"

"Tali was singing in the shower!" Zak beamed like he just found a country.

"She was??" Syd and Shell burst out of the other half of the attic, looking unbuttoned and wrinkled. They weren't even done getting dressed yet, but came out just out of shock.

"She was!! I decided to go see if she was done on the way to the laundry room and she wasn't and she just began a song!" I couldn't believe it. I was still letting it sink in. Tali sings. She wouldn't sing to save her life! She said that she was horrible, that we should never be subject to the torture of her singing voice. But when she thought no one else could hear, she sang! Was she good?

"Yeah, what Jake thought, is she good?" Newt stole my thoughts.

"_Dang it Newt, can't you read someone else's mind?_" I moaned in my mind.

"_You're more fun to read._" He responded simply.

In answer to Newt's (and kinda my) question, Zak shrugged. "I dunno, it depends on what you mean by 'good'."

"Then sing it for us." Shell suggested.

Zak made a face. "You want me to sing?"

"No," Syd responded. "We want you to sing in Tali's voice and sound as much like her as possible."

He sighed. "Fine." Zak cleared his throat and began.

"'Two a.m and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,

Can you help me unravel my greatest mistake?

I don't love him.

Winter just wasn't my season.

Yeah we walked through the doors so accusing their eyes

Like they have any right at all to criticize.

Hypocrites.

We're all here for the very same reason.

But you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable

And life's like an hourglass glued to the table.

No one can find the rewind button, girl,

So cradle your head in your hand

And breathe, just breathe.' And that's as much as I heard." Zak concluded. Wow, Tali CAN sing. The entire time Zak was singing in Tali's voice, my mind was completely wiped. My brain and senses were pretty much dead, and I only heard, no, that's not the right word, experienced Tali's song. I just couldn't help but surrender to the song, which was sad and sweet, especially in her voice. Man, I sound like such a sap saying that! But you get the point. Apparently everyone else thought that too, because the room stood still until a noise freaked us out.

"Hey guys, what's up?" We all leaped a foot into the air and turned to see Tali, her hair dampening her crème-colored tee-shirt. I hated to admit it, but my heart quickened, and it was already pretty fast. "_Praise the lord, she wore Abercrombie and Fitch today._" Have you ever not meant to think something? I have, and that was just it.

"_And this is why you're more fun to read._"

"_Go away, Newt._" I'm not weird, I'm just impartial to Tali when she wears teen clothing, particularly Abercrombie and Fitch. It suits her so much better than the usual baggy shirts and loose jeans, she needs something that clings to the figure she thinks she doesn't have. Sure, mom says I could take on twenty Erasers at once, but show me a picture of Tali wearing those clothes and I just kinda loose it. I can't help it!

"Zak heard you singing in the shower." Shell informed Tali. "Then he sang what you sang only it was in your voice." Tali blushed and turned to Zak.

"You heard, huh?" She checked.

"Uh huh." Zak nodded.

"But it could be too good to be true." Syd stated. "Could you sing "Breathe" for us so we can see if Zak wasn't lying?" Tali's face only got redder.

"Why should I?" She asked, her voice fierce.

"So then I don't make you." Newt threatened calmly, which he can actually do. He held his hands out as if he was going to control her mind. Tali groaned and held her own hands up in surrender. Good choice on her part, Newt could make her do some pretty bad stuff under his power.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." Tali warned and began the same song, only this time it was WAY better. I actually got a visual along with this. I got so lost I hardly realized I was about to drool all over the floor. I sucked it up at the last moment, and listened to the last few words.

After a moment of silence, Syd piped up. "That wasn't you, Tali."

"Huh?" was Tali's witty response.

"That couldn't be your voice. You said you were horrible, and that wasn't horrible. That wasn't even bad, it was more of a professional good. So that can't be your singing voice. Are you sure you didn't use voice mimicking powers or something?" Syd pressed on, her twin nodding in mute agreement.

"Nuh uh." Newt raised his hand next to me on the couch. I'm the one with voice mimicking. That was Tali's natural voice." Woah. Tali is brilliant! And then out of nowhere, an idea came to me. I straightened and everyone looked at me curiously.

"I have an idea." I prompted them. "I think it could work, but I need you guys to do some stuff to make it work."

"Okay, I guess." Tali smiled uneasily, not sure if this was relevant to her voice or not. The little kids shrugged, and Newt perked up when he read my mind.

"Hey yeah, that could work!" He agreed.

"Good. Now Tali, can you freeze time now?" I requested, and Tali nodded and didn't move, but we knew time was frozen anyways.

"Now what?" She asked me.

"Go to the future and get my guitar?"

"Guitar?" Everyone but Newt asked.

"Guitar. All those hours I was alone in my room and you thought I was listening to music I was actually playing it. Only Newt came in my room one day and asked to learn how, so I taught him and he promised that he wouldn't tell anyone." That was kind of a big speech for me, which just made everyone stare at me more.

"He's pretty good, actually." Newt added. "And a nice teacher."

"Whatever." I shoved the comment aside. The last thing I needed was a compliment from Newt, considering he usually never means them. "Tali, could you just go get it?"

"Where is it?" Tali broke her gaze and cooperated.

"Right corner of my closet when you walk in."

"Just a sec then!" A portal appeared, and Tali walked into it, coming out a minute later with the red metal guitar I missed so much. She handed it over, and I strummed a few strings, getting reacquainted.

"And you're saying Newt knows how to play this too?" Syd asked as she watched me play a chord.

"Yup." I hardly even looked up. Syd and Shell looked at each other and raised eyebrows, then turned to Newt.

"You do know how, right?" Shell asked him.

"Yeah, it's really cool knowing how." Newt smiled.

"Right. So now what? I mean we've got your guitar, Jake, and now you're just kinda playing it and ignoring us so what's the rest of your plan?" Zak asked.

"Oh, right." I remembered where I was going with this. "It works like this. I play a song, and Tali, if you recognize it, sing along." Tali just kinda freaked out after that.

"Sing along, are you crazy Jake?? Do you really think I'm going to sing again??"

"Pretend we're not here. Make us invisible, if you like. Just sing." She had to cooperate for this to happen, and besides, I wouldn't mind hearing her sing again, but it wasn't like I was going to tell her that.

"No way!"

"For me?" Okay, did I say that out loud? This better work, or Newt's going to never let me forget it.

Tali paused. "Alright." She muttered something that I couldn't hear, but apparently Newt did and grinned evilly at me. Okay, even though this worked he still wasn't going to let me forget it. But never mind that, I started the first few notes to something Tali might recognize, a Michelle Branch song. Turns out she did, and began at the right time.

"I wanted to be like you.

I wanted everything.

So I tried to be like you

And I got swept away.

I didn't know that

It was so cold and

You needed someone to show you the way.

So I took your hand,

We figured out that

When the time comes I'd take you away." I stopped playing there. She had that one down, apparently.

"Nice job." I nodded, and she rolled her eyes, like this was still torture for her. "Now let's try something else." I played the beginning lines to Anything But Ordinary, by Avril Lavigne, and she sang along flawlessly. It went along like that for a few hours, and though Tali was growing more and more confident, how much more confidence could she need before she could sing onstage? We finished the song Holiday, by Green Day (which she was good at even though boys are supposed to sing it), and by then Zak was seriously bored.

"Look, this is great and all, and Tali has a really nice voice, but I'M BORED! Can we stop singing and playing guitar and sitting around and listening and DO something? I'd rather do LAUNDRY than this!" He erupted.

"SHH! We like this!" Syd and Shell told him on either side of him.

"Jake, man, is this going anywhere?" Newt inquired.

"We're done with the experiment. It's official." I announced.

"What is?" Everyone asked, apparently really frustrated with me.

"Tali's a singer. We can do my idea."

"Which is?" Tali's happiness evaporated and suddenly she was all stern.

"We can be the band that plays at our parents' receptions."

"HUH?" Everyone, even Newt, exclaimed.

"Dude, I just thought you were going to make Tali sing and we could all get a little entertainment." Newt said.

"No, that was just to test the idea. We can do it. Newt can be base, I'll be guitar, Shell can do keyboards, and Zak did always drum well. Plus Syd can do technical stuff on a laptop, and Tali can sing." I was just being a motormouth today!

"SING?" Tali screeched. "Jake, you're insane, absolutely insane! I'll sing for you guys if we're in private, but I'm NEVER singing in front of all those people on a big stage and with our parents listening! We've been through this already! I won't do it in a million years, not for any amount of money!" She even took the liberty of making Newt connect our minds to send me another note. "_I thought I wasn't going to be tortured now that we're speaking._"

"_It won't be torture, Tali, I promise._" I sent back, but she didn't change her mind a bit.

"What if you did it for our parents?" Zak attempted. "If you don't sing things might be different and we might not even know each other or something!"

"The future doesn't depend on my singing voice, Zak." Tali sounded exasperated and rubbed her head.

"What if we did a favor for you in exchange?" Newt offered.

"What favor?" Tali sounded a little interested, at least.

"Anything you want." Newt bartered, surprised that she was actually giving this a thought. Tali pondered it a bit more, and came to a conclusion.

"Alright, I'll do it." The little kids cheered (well, Zak did it half-heartedly because he didn't care all that much, but whatever), Newt grinned, and even I got caught off guard and grinned. Tali was pretty shocked that I was showing emotion, but why shouldn't I? She was wearing Abercrombie and Fitch, she just agreed to sing at our parents' weddings, we weren't doing chores yet, and I had my guitar back! Why shouldn't I be happy?

"But about my favor…" Tali inserted, and everyone froze, waiting for the rest. "Newt, Jake, you have to sing the first song."

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt!" Zak used a sports announcer's voice to frame our feelings perfectly. What the hell did she mean by 'sing'? Newt and I can't sing nearly as well as her, let alone sing at all!

"_Newt, connect me to Tali. Tali, I thought I wasn't going to be tortured now that we're speaking._"

"_Ah, but Jake, if I suffer I'm taking you and Newt with me!_" Tali responded smugly. She's a tricky one. "I was thinking 'Hey There Delilah', myself." She continued verbally. "But our parents would have to agree, of course."

"No, no, and no, and Jake says no too!" Newt disagreed, and I scowled.

"Fine then, I suppose our parents will just have to find a different band to play at the receptions." Tali acted all innocent, like this wasn't her fault, even though we all knew it was.

Newt sighed. He didn't want to be one to tempt fate. "So which one of us is going to be singing the whole thing and which is singing chorus?"

"Well, I was thinking Jake could do the whole thing, but since you were the one that asked, I guess you'll sing the whole thing and Jake can do chorus." Was it me or did Tali just wink at me? What came over her today?

"Fine." Newt and I both groaned at the same time. Aside from the fact that we were making sure everything went right, we were going to hate this.

**The day of Max and Fang's wedding**

**POV Tali**

I woke up a little earlier than usual today and tried to remember why there was a funny feeling in my stomach. Oh yeah, I was going to have to sing today! Crap. Plus I would probably have to sing, otherwise the future could be messed up in weird ways, just like Zak said, and then Jake and Syd and Shell wouldn't be born. I don't know how that was supposed to work, but I WOULD miss them a lot, so dang it.

I got up and started down the steep stairs to get a breakfast before everyone else, still groggy. It was only when I came down and saw Katie and James that I cheered up a bit. I waved at them, and they smiled and made room for me.

"Good morning, Tali, or do you prefer Demi?" Katie greeted me.

"Tali's fine, we're alone." I grinned sleepily. "Are you two always up this early?"

"Half the time, yes." James answered. "We work the night shifts every other night, so we can clean without being in the way of other people."

"Ouch." I winced. "So this is like dinner for you?"

"Yes. So why are you up this early? You've got day shifts." Katie wondered.

"Woke up with a funny feeling in my stomach. Turns out Max and Fang are getting married today." I gnawed on a roll as I spoke.

"Oh yeah, we've been cleaning the ballroom overtime just for their reception." Katie recalled.

"The rumors have been traveling all over the mansion." James added.

"And did those rumors say who was going to play at the reception?" I asked them.

"No. Why, do you know?" Katie asked me.

"Yup. It's going to be us. And I'm going to be the one singing." I tried not to get claustrophobic at the thought of being up there in front of all those people and singing, but the fear must have shown somewhere on my face because Katie smiled sympathetically.

"You'll be fine." She promised. "You can't really be that bad."

"Jake and Newt and everyone else say that." I told her. "They practically forced me to sing, and I forced Jake and Newt to sing the first song."

"Wait," James caught on. "Jake and Newt are going to sing?"

"Yup, it's going to be hell for them." I was finally awake enough to manage an evil grin.

"So can you bring a camera and tape them when it's their turn?" Katie smiled wickedly. "I need to see their singing on tape if I can't in real life."

"Oh, but of course, I'm going to need something to blackmail them with." By now I was about ready to do an evil laugh like the bad guys in Syd and Shell's cartoons always do.

"Ahem." A voice from the door made me and Katie (James was across from us) turn around to see Jake leaning on the frame and raising his eyebrow.

"And a good morning to you too, Jake." James said. Jake nodded, grabbed some cereal, and took a seat next to James.

"Tali, how come you're making Newt sing the whole thing?" Jake asked abruptly. Okay, not the question I was expecting.

"Because you might need to focus more on playing guitar than singing, and Newt would only need to play on occasion." I answered, which really wasn't right, but I didn't really know what was. Why DID I let him sing chorus only?

"Is that true?" James asked.

"No." Jake told her, not taking his eyes off of me. "It's something else."

"I really don't know, to be honest." I think I was blushing, but I couldn't really tell because I was concentrating too hard on trying to see through Jake to the poster on cleanliness behind him. "I just felt like torturing Newt, I guess."

"Okay, so did you guys have a hand in this wedding besides the singing?" Thank God Katie knew how to save me from an awkward moment. I gave her a grateful smile and responded.

"Yes, actually, Syd, Shell, and I went with Max, mom, Aunt Nudge, and Aunt Angel to pick out a wedding dress, and we all get to be ushers. And also, Newt told them about us playing, but does that count?"

"I think it does." James agreed. We talked for a few more minutes before James and Katie had to go sleep and Jake and I had to get breakfast for everyone else. We were headed up the stairs with four trays loaded with pancakes, when I asked Jake a question.

"Hey Jake? I'm going to go down for breakfast early every morning so I can talk with Katie and James, okay?"

"Only if I come too."

"Really? I never thought you'd like them that much."

He shrugged. "They're nice." We shoved open the doors and went through the normal routine of kicking everyone awake and getting them to the table before they fell asleep again. It took all five of us to get Newt out of bed, this time. I swear, that boy was getting lazier by the week!

Once everyone was at the table and Newt was about to fall asleep and get a head full of syrup, I made an announcement. "Okay guys, as you all know, Max and Fang have their wedding today, so we need to meet up here, get in our formal-wear, catch up with our parents, and get them ready, okay?" From Zak and Newt I got disgruntled nods, Jake actually gave me eye contact and a nod at the same time, and Syd and Shell squealed.

"Mom and dad are getting married today!" Shell squeaked.

"And we get to watch it!" Syd beamed. "And we'll probably get to help mom and Rina and Aunt Nudge and Aunt Angel get ready!"

"YAY!" Shell could hardly contain her excitement, nor could her twin, and the two of them hugged. Everyone else just ignored them and went to do their chores. Of course, we all know how much fun THOSE are, so I'm going to skip to when we all finished our lunch in our rooms.

"'Kay guys, time to get changed." I declared, and Syd and Shell beamed again.

"It's a WEDDING. So what?" Zak groaned. "I gotta get in a tux and watch all sorts of strangers and then I see my aunt and uncle kiss."

"But afterwards you get cake and food and you get to dance and listen to music. You'll like that part." I promised him.

"I better." Zak grumbled and got up to get his tuxedo on, dragging Newt behind him, who never really woke up, by the way. Jake followed, and Syd and Shell came to me with their dresses and we got dressed in the living area.

"DONE!" Shell announced.

"Almost done!" Syd slipped on her silk gloves as she spoke. "DONE!" I rolled my eyes. They always liked to dress up. You could hardly tell they were Max and Fang's kids sometimes. They spent too much time with their aunts, apparently.

"You both look very nice." I commented them, because that was what they liked to hear. Not that I didn't think so, but I never hand out compliments all the time.

"Thanks Tali!" Syd was pleased.

"You look nice too." Shell added.

"But I'm not done yet!" I laughed as I buttoned the last of my buttons.

"And now you are, and you look really pretty!" Shell told me. But there were bigger matters than how pretty I looked, namely that I was about to sing in front of a huge crowd.

"All done?" I called to the boys, and they emerged wearing matching tuxedos. Zak and Newt looked both elegant and scruffy at the same time, a trick I really wanted to master, but Jake was pretty much beyond words. How do you describe how handsome he looked without sounding like you were totally in love with him? Not possible, let me tell you. You'd just have to be there.

"Ready." Zak said. "And Tali, could you do us all a favor and shock Newt and wake him up? He's like a dead person today."

"Sure thing." I approached Newt, who didn't show any sign that he knew what I was going to do. Definitely a sign that he needed a wake-up call. I zapped him just a bit with his index finger, and he jolted up.

"I'm awake!" He claimed.

"The first energetic words I've heard you say all day." I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's go." We walked through all the decorations and last-minute cleaners to our parents' rooms, and I went in to get Aunt Max. But she was already in a wedding dress! With Aunt Nudge and Aunt Angel and MOM there! I blushed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd be ready so soon." I apologized for not knocking, like every good little servant girl should. "Tara, Skye, they're in here." I called to Syd and Shell, remembering their fake names at the last moment. They came racing from the other rooms and came over to wow at their mother.

"Wow Max, you look really nice!" Shell commented.

"Yeah, especially with the wings!" Syd agreed.

"Well you two did pick out the dress." Aunt Angel smiled at them. Me, mom, and Max hardly cared a bit, according to my empathy power. Dresses and makeup and hairstyles just weren't our thing! But Max was also a little weirded out. Shall we find out why?

"So Max, do you feel nervous or something?" I interviewed her while Syd and Shell were working on Aunt Angel's hair.

"No, not really." She answered simply.

"Is it because you love Fang and you feel confident?" I pressed on, knowing exactly what her answer would be.

"Pretty much." She nodded. "But still, do you servants know about weddings? Because I'm not sure if I have to dance or not."

"Yes, you're going to have a first dance with Fang." Mom came over and sat on the bathtub on my other side. Max groaned. "Hey, I don't make the rules." Mom defended.

"Don't worry Max, you'll get through. There's a life beyond this wedding." I comforted her, almost daring to reach out and pat her on her silk-covered knee. Mom gave me one of those looks on my other side, the one I translated to be "go ahead", and I went ahead and patted her. At least Max felt a little better.

"Yeah, I guess." She smiled weakly. "But all those people…"

"Most of them hardly know you." Mom filled in.

"And the ones that do love you, and aren't going to care if you trip or anything." I included.

"So you and your friends know me. Does that mean you love me too?" Well, at least Max was feeling fine enough to tease me a bit.

"Hey, you're alright for a runaway experiment." I responded with a small smile. After that, everyone was FINALLY done, and me and Syd and Shell escorted our moms and aunts over to the yard, where the wedding was going to be. They evaporated behind a curtain in the back of the area for brides and bridesmaids only, which was there so then the crowd wouldn't see them until them emerged. And by crowd, I mean a seriously huge crowd. Lemme see, there was Jake's grandma, Dr. Martinez, and his aunt, Ella, who we didn't get to see much back in our time, and there were about a zillion of Mr. Denton's coworkers, who were really business-type. Servants were everywhere, just because they lived here, but Katie and James were nowhere to be seen, which was a shame. I'm surprised there weren't any whitecoats here to make this wedding complete! Please note the sarcasm.

"Demi?" I felt a pull at my dress, and Syd stared back up at me. "You scared?"

"Nah, of course not."

"But it's a pretty big crowd." Shell pointed out. "And you're shy just singing in front of us. Are you sure?"

"Well, it'll be interesting, but like I told Max, there's life beyond this wedding." I sent them a reassuring smile, which I hope looked half as fearful as how I felt.

"Oh, don't worry Demi, I'll hold your hand and it'll be okay!" Newt came from around the corner with Jake and Zak. I stuck out my tongue at Newt, and Zak snickered.

"Let's just get this over with, I need to get out of this dress and burn it as soon as possible." I tried to make it sound like I was kidding, but something in my face must have made Jake give me the tiniest of sympathetic looks in his eyes. He's a great guy, and I hope everyone knows that! But we were never going to get together. It'd just be too much for everyone to accept.

"SHH! The wedding's starting!" Syd and Shell shushed, even though no one was talking by now. We were on the left side of the "altar", where Fang was just kinda standing there (feeling claustrophobic in front of all these people), dad, the best man, was waiting anxiously (and feeling nervous because of the wedding ring for mom lodged in his front pocket), and Uncle Gazzy the ring bearer was just plain bored, like his son. I hardly had time to look at them, though, because the procession was beginning.

First up was Aunt Angel, the flower girl, who looked and felt like a princess in her little white-and-blue dress and her flower petals. She grinned at anyone she got eye contact with, including me, but I could have sworn she gave a special one to dad. And she gave him a wink too! Of course, dad said he was going to get Aunt Angel to teach him not to think about the proposal and ruin the surprise, so she must have known. Aunt Nudge was up next, in a matching dress, as the bridesmaid. She pretty much walked in slow motion, but it could have been worse, so overall she did pretty well. Then it was mom, the maid of honor. Of course, she looked completely awesome, which everyone swears I got from her, and for the most part she was just grace in a blue dress. Well, up until the point when she tripped. Dad was halfway to her before she caught herself and finished walking! Everyone was in their places, and there was a pause as everyone waited for Max.

"_Mom and dad are flirting in their minds._" Newt informed us. WOW, really? I never knew! I mean, what with them sleeping in the same bed and catching each other's gazes all the time, and just the fact that we exist, I had no clue they'd flirt! Maybe that sarcasm was too much. But I was freaked for the reception, plus I felt Max's nervousness (how could I not?), so I had an excuse.

Anyways, Max came down the aisle looking stunning in the long white dress that exposed her wings. Fang was looking like he was going to drool, or so I thought, I mean he's pretty expressionless. The crowd drew in a breath, which I used to think was just tradition until I realized that most of these people had never seen wings. As soon as Max got up to the rest of the Flock, mom ripped open the backs of everyone's dresses and tuxes to show their own wings, and something must have happened, because all six of us got holes in our backs too! I think mom was thinking "everyone in this room who has wings will get wing holes in the backs of their clothes", so it must mean us too. I fixed everyone's gaps with my mind, all the time wondering if this meant she was onto us.

So then the preacher guy started his big long speech on love and all that fun stuff, but we never heard the middle of it because mom fast-forwarded through his sermon! Surprises just kept popping up all over the place today, didn't they? But aside from that, Fang and Max pretty much got married. And kissed. Syd and Shell just couldn't look away from that! They saw their parents kiss all the time in our time, how was this any different? Newt and Zak looked away, and Jake was pretty much just…looking at them. Note to self: ask Jake if he was spacing out or if he actually enjoyed it.

"Reception time!" Someone in the back announced, and everyone filed up the hill to the ballroom for the party. I moaned.

"Come on T- Demi, you said yourself that there's more in life than this wedding, and you need to get this over with!" Shell prompted me, and they began pushing me up the hill with the crowd.

"Besides, those two are going to sing the first song!" Zak grinned evilly and pointed to Newt and Jake.

"Yes Tali, are you going to get that video camera out?" Jake asked me rhetorically. Everyone else exchanged puzzled looks, but I knew what he was talking about and almost laughed, despite the swarms of mosquitoes swirling around in my stomach.

"Thanks for reminding me, Jake, I'll get right on it." I smiled at him with a gleam of honesty in my eye, and Jake just rolled his eyes.

"Jake's glad he made you smile." Newt reported.

"I'm glad Jake made me smile too." I told him. "Now get singing." By now we were in our makeshift backstage, and I pointed to the guitars in the corner. Newt sighed, and he and Jake got the stage prepared with two stools and a microphone. Everyone was milling around the place, eating food and joking and laughing and congratulating a relieved Max and Fang. Zak, however, completely rained on my ease.

"Duuuuude, do you SEE all those people? Big crowd." Zak whistled.

"Gee thanks, now she's never going to sing!" Syd and Shell scolded him.

"Why would you want me to in the first place?" I wondered, and Syd and Shell exchanged looks.

"Demi," Syd began. "We thought you were just being that one thing," She started snapping her fingers, trying to come up with the term.

"Modest." Shell provided.

"Right, modest." Syd agreed. "So we thought you were being modest at first, but now you're that other thing, it's like poor self steam or something."

"That's poor self esteem." I corrected.

"Yeah, that. You think you aren't pretty, you think you can't sing all that good, you deny that you're smart, and you can't see all those boys falling to the floor at your feet because of you! Seriously, you're a lot better than you think." Syd lectured.

"You know what?" I said.

"What?" Syd and Shell inquired at the same time.

"First of all, you two are very smart girls. Second of all, thanks for the pep talk. Now it sounds like you're the ones in control and I'm the little kid. And third of all, I'm still seriously freaked."

"What? Why?" Syd squawked.

"We thought it would help!" Shell whined.

"Well I still don't like the thought of those people seeing me sing, whether I'm good or not, I'm extremely shy, and you know how claustrophobic we can get sometimes!"

"What's claustrophobic?" Zak asked from behind me. I circled around to see he was gorging on a plate of food, mainly desserts.

"It's fear of small spaces. And where did you get all that?" I demanded.

"Buffet." He responded while chewing on a cookie.

"Figures." Syd and Shell said, copying my arms-folded position.

"We're on, guys." Newt must have crept up in my mind. But no, he and Jake were standing behind me! And the entire band was set up?? They finished singing already??

"You finished already??" I spoke my mind.

"Yeah. Your turn." Jake told me. What the hell??? Suddenly all the feelings of dread and embarrassment caught up to me, and those mosquitoes turned into gigantic bomber planes, full of ammo, and I panicked. On the inside, at least. Outside I tried to remain as calm as possible.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in Utah." I told my friends.

"Why Utah?" Syd asked.

"Because. Nothing bad ever happens in Utah!" I was about to leave (I swear, I would have), but Jake and Newt each grabbed one of my arms and started pulling. My reflexes were pretty good, though, and I grabbed onto the frame of the nearby door and didn't let go. Newt was headed for me, and I knew he was going to use super-strength, so I froze him, not really caring if anyone else saw at the moment. Jake just stood there, so I didn't do anything to him.

"Demi." He said calmly. "Can I tell you something?" Okaaaaay. I froze time, so all the sounds in the ballroom suddenly stopped, and no one moved, not even Syd and Shell and Zak (and not Newt, obviously).

"Talk." I growled.

"I'm going to need you to let go of the door, too." I'm pretty sure he chuckled just a little bit.

"Who are you and what did you do with Jake?" I barked. Talking in full sentences, smiling, chuckling, this couldn't be him!

"No, same Jake." He held his hands up in defeat, treating me as if I were a human bomb that was going to explode if he said the wrong thing. "I just…need you to stay calm so I can tell you some things. Now, could you please let go of the door?" My breath slowed down just a bit, and I gradually slackened my fingers from the wood. Jake smiled at me, a real smile, not one of those little quirks. "Much better."

"What do you want? And why are you being…not you?"

"I want to help you. And I saw you freeze your own brother in ice. You never do that unless you're showing off. So it's serious." He explained, and I sighed.

"Sorry. You don't have to be on your guard. I'm just, you know, really freaked." I told him.

"I noticed." He still kept that smile on his face, and personally I didn't want him to loose it. It just fitted him so much, I'd never seen him smile since we were six and Fang told him he mastered flying! So to keep him going, I smiled too, a little.

"So what did you want to tell me?" I asked, to break the silence.

"Well, you weren't paying attention to the crowd while Newt and I were singing, were you?" He started.

"No, I was talking with Syd and Shell and Zak."

"And not videotaping us for James and Katie, I might add." Since when did Jake become such a comedian? Comedian for him, that is, considering he usually refuses to talk unless he has to. "But you didn't…I don't know how to tell you this. But could you take us to when Newt and I started the song?"

"Uh, okay." The surroundings around us swirled at my will, and soon I saw myself from five minutes ago, looking out at the crowd of people with the younger kids. Time was still frozen, though, so they didn't see us or anything. "Now what?" I asked Jake.

"Make us invisible, please?" He requested, and then we were both transparent. "Now since you can't see me, do you mind if I lead you?" Now here was the tricky part. I COULD see him. You get that with the invisibility power, you can see the people you turn invisible. But if I said yes…

"Sure." Next thing I knew, Jake was holding my hand and trailing me behind them as we went across the stage, and since he was a gentlemen (or he really did think I couldn't see him), he helped me off the stage and through the crowd of people until we were at the opposite side of the ballroom, at the buffet. And I was holding his hand! There's something for the world record books.

"Now would you unfreeze time?" I obliged, and everyone came back to life. Jake and Newt's past selves were setting up the amplifiers and Newt tested the microphone.

"Testing, testing. Testing. Little more volume!" he called over to Syd, who was sitting with a laptop backstage for the sound check. "Okay, now that you all can hear me, let's start with the first dance. I'll be singing this one, and then our professional will come out and make me look pathetic with her voice." A few people chuckled at that. Hey, I'm not professional! "But for now, let's have the bride and groom come out for their first dance." Max and Fang rolled their eyes but went up anyways because the crowd's cheer was so demanding. Jake sat on the stool and began playing, and Newt began the song. Where was the camera when I needed it?

"Okay, Tali." Jake breathed into my ear. "See how my parents can't dance but they're trying anyways?" I nodded, but since he couldn't see me, I whispered a "yes". "Well, they're getting pressured into this too. They don't want to dance, but everyone wants them to. You don't want to sing, but everyone wants you to."

"Oh joy, peer pressure rules." I faked a cheer, all the time not allowing my voice to be heard. Then I noticed how dad was standing up and holding a hand out to mom. I read his lips, and he was asking her to dance. I had to admit, it was a nice gesture. Dad really loved mom to do something he didn't want to do!

"Jake." I elbowed him next to me. "It's mom and dad! And dad's asking mom to dance!"

"Uh…okay…" I knew he was wondering why I said that, and I smiled invisibly and apologetically.

"Sorry, had to say it."

"What is your mom feeling right now?" Jake asked out of the blue.

"Lemme see…excitement, love, nervousness-"

"Why nervousness?"

"I don't know, maybe because she's afraid she might mess up?"

"There we go. Rina is scared that she's going to trip like she did in the aisle, and she doesn't want to do it again. Plus no offense to her, but she can't dance. At all." I stifled a giggle when I saw her awkwardly trying to figure out how to hold dad during the dance. "But she's still doing it, because she really likes Iggy and most people dance with people they like."

"She's pressured too?"

"By almost everyone." He did have a point. The genie government was always on her back for reports of us, and her parents were always telling her to just let us be raised by them for a year or two, and she kept pressuring herself to keep her powers under way. We kept observing everyone at the party, especially our own families. Aunt Nudge, Uncle Gazzy, and Aunt Angel were hardly listening to the song and chose to eat from the buffet instead. Fang and Max were dancing together for their first (and only) dance. Mom and dad were trying to figure out how to move. Newt and Jake were onstage (Jake sings pretty well for a guy, and he plays even better!). And I was backstage with Syd, Shell, and Zak, arguing about why I should go onstage. But something caught my eye. Dad and Fang caught each other's eyes during their slow rotations, and Fang mouthed "your turn" to dad.

"Tali?"

"You saw it too, right?"

"The mouthing? Yeah. What does dad mean?"

"Long story short, your dad and my dad agreed that if Fang proposed to Max, then dad would propose to mom after they were married, and your dad already proposed, so it's my dad's turn."

"And there's another example. Iggy's getting pressured into marrying your mom, not only because dad's making him, but because he likes her and a lot of people think he should." By now, the song was over, and it was about time for me to freeze time and talk to Jake. After a minute or two, everyone stopped moving, and I heard our voices clear across the hall. Our past selves debated for a few minutes, then we heard the magic words ("Could you take us to when Newt and I started the song?") and everything was silent. I made us visible again, and we trekked through the room, up the stage, and to the spots we started in.

"So Jake, what's your point with all of this?" I wondered. "It was like you just showed me some random stuff about our parents."

"First of all, I needed to show you how other people are being pressured for other reasons and they do it too." Jake clarified.

"Point taken. I guess I feel a little better." But I couldn't help adding one more thing. "I just can't believe how hard everyone worked just to make me sing!"

"Well you've got a nice voice." Jake stated, and left it at that. I got the feeling he didn't want to compliment me any more and go too far. I realized that I never really gave him a compliment recently, considering how many he's given me lately.

"Well you play guitar like a professional, so we're both good." I blushed. "But why else did you show me all this?"

"I needed to distract you from your fears somehow!" He told me. "Now it's probably about time we got started." I took the queue, gripped the door again, and unfroze time. Abruptly noise was everywhere, and everyone started moving.

"Thaw him out!" Zak complained and I obeyed. Newt suddenly broke out of the invisible ice, cracked his neck, and gave me a death glare.

"So what are you going to tell her?" Syd asked Jake, and he remembered what he was doing before I froze time for him.

"We're not going to suffer for nothing. Let's go!" Using strength, Newt pried me from the wood and he and Jake started escorting me to the stage. I was pretty calm, trying to keep Jake's words in mind, but the moment I saw that huge mass of people watching me, my parents included, I couldn't help but lose SOME of my cool.

"Get off me, let me go! I can't sing!" I protested violently, trying to get them to stop dragging me, but they just ignored me. Why did I have to do this? I can sing a little, but not enough to please these people!

"We had a deal." Jake told me as they set me up at the stage, beckoned for Shell and Zak to come onstage, and took their places at their instruments. I just kinda paralyzed myself right then and there, and surveyed the crowd to stall. Dad smiled encouragingly at me, and mom gave me a little wave from their table, so that made me brave enough to speak.

"Uh, hi everyone. That was my brother, Dylan, singing 'Hey There Delilah'. I'm Demi, and I'll be singing the rest of the time. Now just to warn you, everyone has this weird thought that I can sing well. I'll tell you now that I can't. We just had a little deal. So please don't throw too many tomatoes, this dress is my only one!" Ah, a little humor in a time of crisis. Perfect. Jake began "All You Wanted", and I tried not to catch his eye and lose concentration before I even started singing.

"I wanted to be like you.

I wanted everything.

So I tried to be like you

And I got swept away." My nerves were still eating away at my core, but I just kept singing, for my parents, and Jake and Syd and Shell's parents, and Zak's parents, and Aunt Angel, and my friends, the greatest people in the world.

"_Glad you think so, Tali. Everyone's impressed, keep it up!_" I don't know how Newt managed to send a thought AND play base at the same time, but he did, and I hardly managed a grin in his direction before I had to get back to singing those stupid nerves out of my system. By the end of the song I didn't feel anything, just the feeling of nothing. I just sort of zoned out, and left my subconscious to make me sing. Once the instruments faded out, the applause was almost deafening, or about as deafening as it can get when the audience was only paying half of their attention to you. I grinned, surprised, and took a bow. Then Jake and I caught each others' glances, and unseen by everyone else, I mouthed "thanks". He just quirked a smile back. Same old Jake.

**Hope you liked, please review, part three will be up really soon! Hehe, that rhymed. :D**


	9. Save the Ring

**Note: To make this chapter extra long, as the advertisement says, I'm going to make this chapter into an extra-long songfic chapter with a whole bunch of songs. And by a whole bunch of songs, I mean three. If I didn't have such high expectations for myself, I'd just give you the chapter with not songs, but…nah.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Max Ride, do own my OCs and the plot, don't own the song Sober by Kelly Clarkson, don't own Can I Have a Kiss by Kelly Clarkson, and don't own Wonderwall by Oasis. Yes, I know someone wrote a songfic oneshot for this Wonderwall (I have no clue about Sober and Can I Have a Kiss), but it's just so great for the occasion that I had to use it! And I just feel like making these songs background music instead of them singing/listening to it.**

**Chapter 9: Save the Ring (A/N I'm sorry this title is so bad!)**

**Super-great-extra-long-triple-update-time part 3**

**POV Jake**

I TOLD Tali she was good! But she doesn't listen until the crowd's applause tells her she's good. Figures. I mentally rolled my eyes. Whatever, she got to sing and feel confident, she didn't videotape me and Newt singing, and I got to hold her hand and spy with her for a short period of time. Even though it was only a few minutes in the past, it was pretty entertaining! I didn't think I looked like that in a tux, but then again, as a servant, the only mirror you get is the one on the plates when you've scrubbed at them hard enough.

After we finished "All You Wanted", Tali and I caught each others' eyes, and she mouthed "thanks". I could have sworn my little bird-kid heart missed a few beats! I smiled just a little back to her, and it would have been more, but people were watching. After that round of applause, we began "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne, and since this song didn't require as much on my part (however, Syd and Shell were working extremely hard with the keyboards and special sounds and voice echoes), I took the chance to observe the audience. There were my parents, trying to avoid the dance floor after thoroughly embarrassing themselves, and there were Iggy and Rina, with Rina dragging Iggy onto the dance floor since it was a peppy song and all. I saw Iggy sneak the engagement ring out of his front pocket and set it on the table next to some martini glasses (which, by the way, didn't have any martinis there, they just looked cool for serving other drinks) so then it wouldn't get loose. And Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy and Aunt Angel were pretty close to those glasses, drinking various juices and goofing off in random ways. Uncle Gazzy's gaze drifted over to the ring, and he gave it a weird look.

Then the strangest thing happened: he took it! Okay, calm down Jake, he's probably just going to give it back to Iggy or something. But Uncle Gazzy just snuck it into his pocket while Aunt Angel and Aunt Nudge were seeing who could drink more. He was stealing it! I could only stand there and watch, pretty much helpless since Newt was concentrating too hard, and he'd probably stop the show and make Uncle Gazzy give the ring back then and there, which was going to call attention. Not the best of plans.

I tried not to let my anxiety show as we played some more songs for the reception. And if anyone noticed that I was sweating, I could always say it was the spotlights and the tux making me hot, not that, oh, I don't know, Newt and Tali weren't going to exist. With the ring gone, Iggy wouldn't be able to propose to Rina, and then their marriage would be delayed (because I knew they weren't going to cancel it), and then maybe the genie government was going to have enough genie kids and they wouldn't need Newt and Tali to be born, so on the off chance that they actually decided to have kids, they'd be like babies when I was ten, and we all know what that means. But why was I just thinking about what was going to happen? I needed to stop it from happening!

Tali signaled for us to stop playing. "Okay guys, now it's time for the best man to make the toast. Iggy?" Here was my chance. I set down the guitar and was off the stage before anyone else. I only had a bit of time before I'd have to go up again, and if I didn't get things right by then, we were all in trouble. I stepped up to Uncle Gazzy, Newt and Tali's faces fresh in my mind, I took a breath, and started.

"Put the ring back." I demanded in a tone only Uncle Gazzy could hear. He paused, then pulled me to a deserted corner.

"Fang told you to say that, right?"

"No."

"Iggy?"

"No."

"Nudge? Angel?"

"No. I saw you snatch it. Put it back."

"No way, I'm keeping it!"

"Put it back. Iggy and Rina need to get married."

"Why would you care?"

"Just trust me on this. There are going to be some very unhappy people if they don't get married."

"Such as?"

"My friends, for one. They've been dying to see it happen." Not exactly right, but I know they'd be mad if one or two of them didn't exist.

"Is Demi going to be upset too?" Uncle Gazzy teased. "I'm sure you won't want HER to be disappointed."

"Yeah, she will, and no, I don't." He just wanted me to admit it, and if I did, it would be a lot less time wasted. "I'm sure Angel and Nudge want this to happen too." I got back on track.

"Whatever, I don't." I cocked a head. "I just don't, okay? I thought it was a big dare, not that they were really going to do it." About now, Iggy was making the toast to Max and Fang. I snuck an eye over to Tali, and she was giving her mom a glass of apple juice in such a fluid motion I could hardly believe it was her. And suddenly, I remembered why this had to happen. She had to be there, to take us back in time and make Zak be somewhat good and practice fighting with Syd and comfort Shell when she had bad dreams and be Newt's conscious. And then there was the fact that she makes me pretty happy. And Newt was my best friend, I couldn't lose him! Uncle Gazzy was going to put that ring down if I had to pry it from his hands. And I only had a few seconds.

"Put. Down. The ring." My voice was hard as steel, and Uncle Gazzy backed down just a bit. I didn't even blink, just like Newt did when he wanted more dessert, and he pulled the ring out of his front pocket and examined it.

"I just wanted my friend back." He messed with the ring a little more and set it on the table. "He hardly wants to blow things up anymore unless Rina's with him. I liked it better when they were just friends."

"He's in love." I informed him. "He'll do that. And I bet you will too. Nudge is a nice girl, and I know you think so." I managed a tiny smile, then turned to leave for the stage. My work was done.

About halfway to the stage, Syd and Shell caught up with me.

"Kyle?" Syd asked.

"Did you just keep Gazzy from stealing the ring?" Shell completed, and I looked down at them. They were on either side of me and looking curious, like did I actually save their somewhat big sister and brother?

"Yeah." I answered.

"But why?" The two asked at the same time.

"Because we all like Dylan and Demi." I tried not to say too much. "But don't say anything to them about it. They'll worry."

"Okay." Syd said for the both of them, and we got to our instruments and began playing, right as Iggy took Rina out the door to propose to her.

**POV Shell (A/N there, she's happy, she got a POV! Sadly, Syd's not too pleased)**

"Did you just keep Gazzy from stealing the ring?" I finished for Syd. Did Jake really save Newt and Tali from not being born?

"Yeah." He said. I wish he'd go into more detail, and I know Syd felt the same. He was always silent, which is why we liked to tease him so much at home and get him to say more than five words.

"But why?" We asked.

"Because we all like Dylan and Demi. But don't say anything to them about it. They'll worry." Okaaaaay, was he trying to be noble or something?

"Okay." Syd said for the both of us, and I went over to my keyboard. Once we were into the song, Syd caught my eye and mouthed "tell Newt." Oh, right, tell Newt about Jake saving him and Tali! I cocked my head to get her to explain. "He needs to know." Syd mouthed again, but I still didn't follow, so she had to come out and pretend to fix a wire connecting my keyboard to the amps.

"Jake said not to tell, so we tell, and Newt will spread the word." She half-whispered frantically as she pretended to connect and disconnect some circuits, then went backstage to mess with the laptop a bit more. I understood, and tried to reach Newt in my mind.

"_Newt…Newt…NEWT!_"

"_Huh? What? I'm playing here!_"

"_It's Shell. Guess what Jake did during break?_"

"_Can it wait?_"

"_No. See, Uncle Gazzy stole the wedding ring that Iggy was going to use and propose to Rina, but Jake stopped him and saved you and Tali from not being born!_"

"_Sweet!_" Newt almost missed a string, but caught it at the last second. "_Do you know exactly what he said or anything?_"

"_Nope, he only said that he did it because we all like you and Tali and I think he meant he didn't want to lose you guys and then he told us not to tell you because it'd worry you. But Syd and I agreed that we had to tell, and you can spread the word fastest._"

"_Okay, gimme a sec, I gotta go ask Jake what he said._" He cut the connection right as we began another song.

**POV Newt**

Jake saved me and Tali? Nah, it couldn't be, he was probably just talking with Uncle Gazzy and they noticed the wedding ring and Syd and Shell just misinterpreted it or something. But still, I may as well ask.

"_Jake?_"

"_Yeah?_"

"_Someone told me you kept Uncle Gazzy from stealing a wedding ring meant for mom, right?_"

"_Who said?_"

"_Syd and Shell._"

"_Figures. I told them not to tell._"

"_Yeah, well, they did, so did you or did you not?_"

"_Yeah, I did._"

"_Hey, thanks man! I owe you big, and so does Tali! In fact, excuse me…_"

"_No!_"

"_What, I'm not allowed to tell her that you saved our skins?_"

"_It's not that big a deal. She doesn't need to know._"

"_Okay, now you're just crazy. I'll tell her next break, and you can't stop me. Why don't you want her to know, anyways?_"

"_She just…doesn't need to. I don't want her to know how close she was to not being born. You saw how she freaked when she was going to sing._"

"_Good point. She turned me into an icicle, did you see that?_"

"_Yeah, it was pretty weird. What's it like in there?_" Oh, right, he wouldn't know because Tali never EVER turned him into a block of ice!

"_Well, you can't hear anything, it's really cold, you don't get a lot of air, and the people outside are all blurry and warped. What exactly happened while I was in there?_"

"_I calmed her down a bit, Zak said to thaw you out, she did, and we dragged her up to the stage._"

"_You CALMED her? Man, how'd you do that?_"

"_Just told her we weren't suffering for nothing._" But my lie detector was going crazy, and I thought otherwise.

"_I think not. What'd you really do?_"

"_That. Ask anyone, they'll agree with me._" Well, he wasn't lying about everyone agreeing, but still…

"_She doesn't calm that easily. You did something else._"

"_I'll tell you later, we're supposed to be concentrating on playing!_" Sure enough, I was forgetting to do whole notes, and Syd was working like crazy trying to make it sound natural.

"_This isn't over!_" I added one more thing and then closed the connection and we played for five more songs. Mom came back with dad, beaming like crazy while dad just looked relieved. I could see the glint of her wedding ring all the way from here, and I knew they were engaged. "_Hey guys, guess who's engaged?_" I sent everyone a thought, and Tali and Zak just smiled. Me, Jake, Syd, and Shell, though, were thrilled, mainly because they were THIS close to not wearing those rings. Now the Flock was talking to mom and dad, probably asking about the wedding and who could be who, but their happiness was short-lived, because a white dove flew in through a window. A closed window. Only Genie Government doves could do that. The dove flew up and stopped in front of mom, we stopped playing, and EVERYONE looked at mom, wondering what the heck a transparent dove was doing hovering in front of her with a letter with a gold "G" stamped on it. Tali and I looked at each other. Mom got those all the time at home, and we knew what this one contained.

Zak got up from his drums and pulled on my sleeve. "What's it say?" Syd, Shell, and Zak were all around me, and Jake and Tali were just listening from a distance. I looked around and made sure no one but us could hear me, and leaned in.

"This is the one that says Ari 2 was wished free and he's looking for mom and dad." The three of them widened their eyes to look like dinner plates. Now we were officially responsible for our parents' lives, in some way. We never really planned this all out in the first place.

"So what's the plan?" Zak asked Tali, and we all turned to face her. She shrugged.

"Watch over them, make sure no one's going to get hurt, and keep an extra eye on Rina and Iggy since they're most in danger." I knew she just made this up on the spot, but it was about as good as we were going to hear in this environment.

"Anything big happening that we'll have to look out for?" I asked, trying to get more info. Tali closed her eyes and came back a few seconds later.

"A big battle at Rina's parents' house, a fight with Ari 2 on their wedding day, and we might have to blow the secret. And that's just for starters." She warned, and we all groaned. "Everyone pay extra attention to what you say to them! Now come on, we need to get playing, distract some people." Ha, distract people with music, just like those guys on the Titanic. Are we going down with the ship too? Actually, Tali did look like she was going to drown…

"_Tali? I know you're singing, but can I have a word?_"

"_Make it quick._" I could have sworn she missed a few notes or something.

"_Can't. I'll tell you later tonight, okay?_"

"_Fine._" She agreed and went back to her singing. We played for the entire night, and it was midnight when the party finally stopped and everyone went home and our parents went to bed.

**POV Tali**

"Okay guys, it's been a big night, but now it's time for bed." I herded up the little kids after hours of playing through the night. Poor kids, having to stay up so late after being woken up so early. Zak hid his yawn.

"But can't I eat something from the buffet so I can say I had dinner?" He moaned, watching the late-night servants clean up the party and emptying the tubs full of food.

"Sorry, kiddo, that's what breakfast is for." I ruffled his hair and he almost fell down, so I picked him up and we all headed for the door. Zak didn't object to being carried, and he drifted off to sleep in my arms. That's what I call tired! Syd and Shell weren't looking so bright and cheery either, so Newt ended up carrying Shell and Jake picked up Syd. We were almost to our attic (and my arms were about to fall off) when Katie and James caught us.

"Oh hey! We didn't think you'd be playing this late." Katie greeted us. How the hell can she look so bright and cheery at this time of night? Sorry, that was crabbiness. I mustered up a smile.

"Well, it was a pretty big party, and these guys are beat from it." I lifted Zak up a bit more so he wasn't drooping, and he found a spot for his head on my shoulder.

"Aww, poor guys." Katie sympathized.

"Well, we have to go clean up, so we'll see you later, I suppose." James told us, and we took the hint and headed up the stairs. I set Zak down on the big bed, and he just snuggled up under the blankets. Newt and Jake deposited Syd and Shell in the bunk beds, I mouthed "thanks", and headed for my couch, but Newt stopped me.

"Remember, we need to talk?" Jake looked at us, most likely confused. Newt sent him a thought.

"No, let's not tell her, just go to bed." Jake tried to tell Newt.

"Tell me what?" I asked both of them.

"See? She needs to know. C'mon, Tali, let's walk." Newt took me by the arm and guided me out the door.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded with as much energy as one can have at one in the morning.

"Gardens. It's a nice place to break news to people." Newt retorted, and I followed in silence as we headed to the flower patch. Once we had a seat on a cement wall, Newt spoke.

"I know you're freaked about what's coming up." He started.

"You can say that again." I uttered.

"Well I just wanted to let you know, things could be worse."

"I knew that." I corrected. "There's all sorts of things that could go wrong, and there's still a chance they could happen if we don't do things right!"

"Okay, now you're just freaking yourself out." Newt laughed softly. "What I mean is, we, as in you and I, came so close to not existing today."

"How?" I dared him to tell me, still worrying about everything.

"Well you know how mom dragged dad onto the dance floor and dad put the ring on the table so it wouldn't wiggle out of his pocket and ruin the surprise, right?" Newt checked, and I nodded. "Thing is, Uncle Gazzy stole the wedding ring. He missed having dad as a friend and blowing stuff up, just the two of them, so he thought that if he stole the wedding ring, mom and dad wouldn't marry and dad would be Uncle Gazzy's friend again. And this would mean that we wouldn't be born, and even if we were, we'd be like babies and Jake would probably have to lead the group and we might not even go to the past and make everything happen."

"Uncle Gazzy did that?" I gaped. He and dad were so close at home, and he liked mom too! How could he even think of trying that?

"Yeah, he did, just today."

"But…how do we still exist then?"

Newt got a gleam in his eyes. "That's my favorite part. See, Jake saw Uncle Gazzy taking the ring and when dad was making the toast and you were talking with mom, Jake was convincing Uncle Gazzy to put the ring back. I don't know the details, but-"

"Well why didn't you ask earlier?" I interrupted. "Connect me to your mind please?" He obliged, and I connected the both of us to this evening, when dad was giving the toast. The camera in my mind's eye pointed to Jake, who was setting his guitar down and marching to Uncle Gazzy before the rest of us could even look.

When the vision was done and Jake had saved us, I blinked and Newt and I came back to the real world. Newt was smiling, still glad that he was saved, and I had mixed feelings. Jake didn't want me to be disappointed? Maybe he was just saying it so he could speed things up? And why didn't he tell us? Did he look at me for a reason? And why did he save us anyways? Was it just for his sisters so I'd be around to help them? Or did he want Newt around to skateboard with? Or was it some personal reason? Suddenly our kiss came back to my mind. No, it wasn't going to be that reason, I knew that.

"You know it might be." Right, Newt was still here. I turned and gave him a sour look.

"Nice try, sicko. Don't get your hopes up, we only kissed because he was making me feel better."

"Right. You keep thinking that." Newt rolled his eyes.

"Back to the actual subject, how did you get to know about this?" I attempted to get his mind off the inevitable.

"Syd and Shell saw him do it, they told me, I checked with him to see if it was true, and I told you."

"So Zak doesn't know?"

"Nope. But I can make him…"

"No, no, he doesn't need to know."

"My god, Tali, you're just as weird as Jake!"

"What? He doesn't need to worry about how things can change. I don't want him to worry."

"Whatever. The kid's gotta grow up sometime. And so should you, and then you can see exactly why Jake saved us."

"It's because they'd all miss us, right?"

"Kinda."

"Because HE'D miss us?"

"Close."

"He'd miss you?"

"Who's the other person in 'us'?"

"He'd miss me?"

"Now what exactly would he miss about you?"

"He'd miss my…leadership?"

"No, but that's part of it."

"Singing voice?"

"Sorta. Why did he make you sing?"

"Because he likes it?"

"No, not exactly. He likes something else."

"Okay, Newt, you're losing me. What are you trying to say?"

"Tali, he loves you! He'd miss you so much, that is, if he even remembered you, depending on what would have happened, so he had to keep from losing the one person who really matters in his life!"

"STOP trying to tell me that! He doesn't love me, he doesn't even like me as more than a friend!"

"Stop kidding around, what did you think that kiss was for?"

"He was making me feel better!"

"Oh sure, because a guy who thinks you're just a friend is going to give you a complete kiss on the lips just because you were a little upset."

"Exactly!"

"Tali, I was being sarcastic. It wasn't just because you were sad, he hates seeing you when you're crying and whatever he thought at the time, it made him want to kiss you, and he did!"

"Look, Newt, I'm getting so sick of this stupid conversation! We've been through so much, I've known him since I was born, and if there's any part of him that liked me, it would have died a long time ago. Some other girl's probably caught his eye by now, and I swear it isn't me. Nice try, but you've already told me what happened, so go back to bed. I'm going to stay out here a bit more." I dismissed Newt, and he looked a little short of crestfallen, since his little game was ruined.

"But Tali-"

"Good NIGHT, Newt." I leaned on the back of the wall and stared at the sky, refusing to look Newt in the eyes. He finally sighed, hopped off the cement wall, and walked away. But before he turned a corner, he faced me one more time.

"Just think about it, okay?" He requested, and before I could tell him that I could think about anything I wanted, he left me sitting alone. All the wedding decorations had long since been cleared away and it was two in the morning, so there was no one to keep me from staying out and gazing at the stars.

As I was staring up into space, I thought. Sad to say, it was about what Newt and I had talked about, which was exactly what he wanted me to do. It didn't seem like he was controlling me, but I just couldn't get the topic out of my mind. I'd thought about it so many times I lost count, and every time it confused me. Jake was an amazing guy, really, and any girl would be lucky to have him as a friend, but would anyone be lucky enough to have him as…more? I just couldn't imagine Jake as a boyfriend. I couldn't see him as anything more than a guy who I shared an attic with, to be honest, and I just wanted to forget all this and lose myself in the vast sky, but the thought wasn't through with me.

"_I don't know._

_This could break my heart or save me._

_Nothing's real until you let go completely._

_So here I go with all my thoughts_

_I've been saving._

_So here I go with all my feelings _

_Waiting on me._

_Three months and I'm still sober._

_Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers_

_But I know it's never really over._

_I don't know._

_I could crash and burn but maybe_

_At the end of this road I might catch a glimpse of me. _

_So I won't worry about my timing. I want to get it right._

_No comparing, second-guessing, no, not this time._

_Three months and I'm still breathing_

_And a long road since those hands I left my tears in_

_But I know it's never really over, no…_

_Why?_

_Ah, three months and I'm still standing here._

_Three months and I'm getting better._

_Three months and I still am._

_Three months and it's still harder now._

_Three months I'm living here without you now_

_Three months, yeah, three months,_

_Three months and I'm still breathing._

_Three months and I still remember it._

_Three months, oh wake up._

_Three months and I'm still sober._

_Picked all my weeds but kept the flowers._"

Why was this so hard? Why couldn't I see what was happening with me and Jake? I guess the first step was to figure out how I felt about him. And I never thought I'd admit it, but…I love him. Just that one little wedding ring that he saved made me realize how much I loved him, deep down inside. No one would ever do that for me! And according to Newt, he did it ONLY for me. And the kiss…now that I knew I loved him, I could admit that it was amazing! I was only afraid that he wouldn't love me back. We're barely teens, and most people don't find love until adulthood. Could I even wait that long? And who said he was going to love me back? Newt couldn't really mean it, unless he took me into Jake's mind personally and got him to think something that would prove it to me. And Newt wouldn't do that anytime soon.

"Hey." A voice behind me spoke. Was that who I thought he was? Sure enough, when I sat on my elbow and saw who it was, Jake was staring downhill at me. And now that I knew I loved him, I saw him in a new light (no pun intended, since it was pretty dark). His silky black hair, his ice-blue eyes…I just wanted to look at them forever, and I don't care if that sounded corny!

"What's with the grin?" Oh, right, he was actually alive and not a sculpture. My bad.

"I'm grinning? Oh, sorry." I apologized, and Jake walked downhill and laid down next to me.

"Let me guess. Three a.m delirium?" He offered, and I smiled and shook my head.

"No, I'm just not sure." Jeez, you act so differently when you feel so strongly about someone! Man I hope he didn't notice anything else.

"So why are you out this early?" Jake asked.

"I don't know. I just wanted to think, is all." I shrugged.

"Well from what Newt told me, he brought up some topic that made you mad and you made him leave."

"Yeah. He told me how you saved us from not existing, which, by the way, I was wondering."

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno. Just didn't want you to worry, I guess. You do it enough already."

"True. But you can't really blame me now, can you?"

"So what made you mad?" Jake could tell I was getting worked up just talking about worrying.

"Well, Newt and I were talking about what you did for us, and then he mentioned something about why you did save us, and- what?" I could feel his fist forming from here.

"Nothing, go on."

"You're frustrated with that too, huh?"

Jake sighed and his fist released. "Yeah. I don't see why he'd care."

"I know, that's what made me make him leave. He kept trying to tell me that you did it because you…really liked me."

"I'll bet he said I loved you."

"Hehe, yeah, he did." I laughed awkwardly. Did this mean he really did love me? We both stared into the sky to avoid the topic.

"_Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you._

_By now you should have somehow realized what you're gonna do._

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now._

_Back beat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out._

_I'm sure you heard it all before but you never really had a doubt._

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now._

_And all the roads we have to walk are winding_

_And all the lights that lead us there are winding._

_There are many things that I would like to say to you_

_But I don't know how_

_Because maybe_

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._

_And after all_

_You're my wonderwall._

_Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you._

_By now you should have somehow realized what you're not to do._

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now._

_And all the roads that lead you there were winding_

_And all the lights that light the way are blinding._

_There are many things that I would like to say to you_

_But I don't know how._

_I said maybe_

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._

_And after all_

_You're my wonderwall._

_I said maybe_

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._

_And after all_

_You're my wonderwall._

_I said maybe_

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._

_You're gonna be the one that saves me._"

"Jake?" That little voice deep down inside me kept gnawing in my ear, telling to me to ask, and once I gathered the courage, I began.

"Hm?"

"You know how Newt said you love me?"

"Yeah?" I knew that he knew this was going to be an embarrassing question.

"Well, this is going to sound really weird, and I'm just doing this to prove Newt right or wrong, but…do you?" There was a pause after that. I knew Jake was chewing this over, trying to think of exactly the right answer to give me. I waited, bursting from the seams due to anxiety. Finally, he responded.

"Maybe. I never really worked it out, but considering what I just did tonight…well, do you love me?" Great, JUST the answer I wanted to hear. And if you noticed the sarcasm in that, you get a brownie.

"You say first." I dared. I wasn't saying until he said he loved me too!

"You."

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"First is better."

"I want to know more."

"No, I do."

"Ladies first."

"Respect the lady and answer her question."

"Why don't you want to answer?" By now Jake was sitting up, and I soon rose up to match his level.

"Why don't _you_ want to answer?"

"Because-" And I swear I was driven insane by that point, because I just HAD to swoop in and give him a kiss on the lips. Oh my god, welcome back to paradise, Tali! He kissed back, but not too fiercely like he was afraid he was going to shatter me into pieces, and this time we didn't separate until I was about to faint for lack of air. Jake and I broke apart at the exact same time and gasped for air until we were both breathing at a good pace and my little bird-kid heart stopped fluttering at a hundred miles an hour.

"So what's your conclusion?" I asked him. My subconscious is a genius! Kiss him so then he can see if he loves me or not, brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Jake opened his mouth, ready to answer, then closed it again, still mulling things over. I waited patiently, although I was dying for more, since being so sudden might freak him out. After a few minutes, I got an answer.

"I loved it." Jake admitted in a fast whisper, then looked away, embarrassed. That was so adorable, he thought it was embarrassing to like a kiss! I gave the smallest of laughs, which only made him turn further from me. So I reached out and touched his cheek.

"No, I didn't laugh for the reason you think. You'll never believe this, but I loved it too." Jake perked up just a little, and rotated to face me again. I saw how pleased he was, all the hope in his eyes and the smile on his face, and it just made me smile all the more. But at the same time, my cheeks were red like fire. Was this really happening? Was I really admitting all this to my best friend?

"And you know what?" Jake went on. "I don't just love the kiss."

"Well what do you love then?" I don't know HOW in the universe I sounded so innocent and clueless when I was just going for curiosity, but it helped Jake gather some courage to answer.

"I love you." And there we go, the magic words that had the ability to make my heart overflow. He said it!

"I love you too." I told him. "And it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I figured it out." This time we were both prepared when Jake kissed me, and we both got a blast out of it. When we finally finished, I placed my head on his chest, he put his hand in my hair, and we lay on the slope watching the stars.

"_Excuse me for this,_

_I just want a kiss._

_I just want to know what it feels like to touch_

_Something so pure,_

_Something I'm so sure of,_

_What it feels like to stand outside your door._

_I'm unworthy,_

_I can see you're above me,_

_But I can be lovely,_

_Given the chance._

_Don't move._

_I wanna remember you just like this._

_Don't move._

_It's only a breath or two between our lips._

_I know why you left._

_I can't blame you myself._

_Must be hard living with ghosts and such an empty shell._

_I tried to warn you,_

_I've been a mess since you've known me._

_I can't promise forever_

_But I'm working on it._

_If I can't hold you,_

_Can I give you a kiss?_

_Can I have a kiss?_

_I see that you're torn._

_I've got some scars of my own._

_Seems I want what I know is gonna make me hungry._

_Don't move._

_I need to remember you just like this._

_I know why you left._

_I can't blame you myself._

_Must be hard living with ghosts and such an empty shell._

_I tried to warn you,_

_I've been a mess since you've known me._

_I can't promise forever_

_But I'm working on it._

_If I can't hold you,_

_Can I give you a kiss?_

_Can I have a kiss?_

_All I have,_

_All I can give to you I will._

_Just promise this._

_If I can't have forever,_

_Can I have a kiss?_

_I know why you left._

_I can't blame you myself._

_Must be hard living with ghosts and such an empty shell._

_I tried to warn you,_

_I've been a mess since you've known me._

_I can't promise forever_

_But I'm working on it._

_If I can't hold you,_

_Can I give you a kiss?_

_Can I give you a kiss?_

_Can I, can I,_

_Can I have a kiss?_"

I knew dawn would break any moment now, and the halls would be filled with people coming to and from their chores. The kids would have to wake up soon. I stayed up all night with Jake!

"Jake, the sunrise will be soon. Maybe we should head back up to the mansion?" I suggested, and he nodded sleepily. "Are you going to make it without any sleep?"

"Sure." He nodded. "I've done it before." We both got up and stretched, ready to get back up there and wake everyone up.

"Jake?"

"Hm?"

"What are we going to tell everyone?" That was going to be a technical difficulty.

"I dunno…did we say we were together?"

I sucked in a breath. "Okay, here's the thing. I'm sure everyone would be either thrilled or weirded out, but us being together…it might be bad. I mean, what if Newt felt something like Uncle Gazzy felt? Not that he would, but on the off chance that he does…well, some feelings would be hurt. And what if something were to happen to one of us during the battles? We'd never be able to be strong for the rest of the guys. And maybe we'd be too-"

"Tali, those are all pretty big 'ifs'." Jake held onto my shoulders, trying to calm me down. "But if it makes you feel better, we can just pretend this whole thing never happened. You know, hide our feelings like always and then everything stayed normal, we're concentrated, and no one gets hurt. Sound good?" Well, that was quite a speech for Jake.

"Sounds good." I nodded quietly. "But we're going to have to try really, REALLY hard to keep this out of our minds. You know that, right?"

"Yeah." He agreed. "So friends?"

"Friends." I smiled thankfully, and we headed up the hill right as the rays of dawn splashed across the field.

**I know half of that was just rambling and pointless Jali, but it was at least somewhat entertaining to read, right? REVIEW PLEASE!**


	10. Ari 2 Sucks Big Time

**Hey everyone! So here I am with a snow day, no distractions except the T.V (which I'm ignoring), a cup of hot chocolate just the way I like it, and my laptop ready to go. Good time to update, don't you think?**

**A HUGE thank you to all the people who reviewed, who happen to be Green.Winged.Mistress, S.L. Michaels, Evil Angel of DOOM, Bubble Blower, rainbowwriter96, MaxRideNut, coffeelover369 (I know it was you who left the review sent by meeeeeeee!), and ghji, plus the mysterious reviewer who I never figured out who it was. I hope you guys know I really appreciate them and they make me so happy:D I feel loved because of you all. Maybe you'll accept some of my hot chocolate in gratitude…?**

**Disclaimer: You know, I think I used up all my good disclaimers. But you know I DO NOT OWN IT! Just thought we'd make that clear.**

**Chapter 10: Ari 2 Sucks Big Time**

**POV Newt**

SWEET! Jake and Tali admitted it. About freaking time, too! Twelve and a half years of work finally paid off and my best friend and my sister are now semi-officially together. Of course, there's the little thing about how they didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, so it wasn't like they were going on a date tonight (in fact, I don't think Tali would EVER go on a date since she'd have to wear makeup). Close enough though.

I wasn't going to be able to sleep knowing this news. It was like I found out I was going to Harvard and pursue my dream of being a doctor (not that I really want to be a doctor, I'm just using an example). And since I wouldn't be able to let Jake and Tali come in quietly, I'd just have to make a scene. So I posed myself on one of the chairs near the door and waited as the voices of their thoughts grew stronger and stronger. The door finally opened, and I stood in front of it before Jake or Tali could get in.

"Natalie Demetria Griffiths, where have you been?" I said sternly, somewhat like a father would with their child after their first date. "I was worried sick about you!"

"Newton Dylan Griffiths, we're not supposed to be using our full names." Tali waltzed right in, Jake following silently and closing the door behind us. "And you weren't worried, you were probably laughing your head off at the thoughts." She went on.

"Okay, so I was laughing a little." I smiled and dropped the façade. "But the kids were wondering where the hell you were!"

"Language." Jake reminded me. Why would he care about the kids learning a new word? That's Tali's job.

"You spend too much time with Tali, apparently." I told Jake.

"Newt, I know you, you were sitting alone on my bed and listening to our thoughts on your own. The kids were still asleep." Tali rolled her eyes. "We're not stupid."

"Can I help it if I want to make a big deal out of things? You're toget-" Jake and Tali shushed me simultaneously before I could finish the word.

"You know it's a secret!" Tali dropped her voice to a harsh whisper.

"Maybe. Or maybe I want to let it slip." I smiled. Don't ask me why I want to torture my sister and best friend so much about their relationship. I like to pretend that my conscious went home for summer break and never came back.

"What do you want?" Jake raised an eyebrow. "Money? Favors?"

"Nothing. The kids need to know, they've been waiting for this for all of eternity." I prompted them.

"They're too young to care." Tali objected.

"No, they prefer to have two role models, not just you in command and me and Jake helping occasionally." I corrected. "Besides, they all know it's bound to happen."

"They don't notice." Jake said.

"Oh no?" I responded smugly. "Jake, may I reacquaint you with a boy named Charles?" At this Jake growled, remembering only too well how Charles the servant was flirting with Tali.

"Why ya growling, Jake?" Zak asked. Yes, ZAK asked. We all turned to see Syd, Shell, and Zak standing there sleepily in their pajamas. Success. Now to break the news to them!

"Let ME answer that. See Zak, it's this little thing called lo-" I was trying to explain but I was cut off.

"NEWT!" Jake and Tali both almost yelled my name. Thank God no one slept near our room, or they'd hear us using our real names.

"Yes my dear sister and brother?" I asked innocently.

"Hate to break it to you-" Syd began.

"-But you're not brothers." Shell continued.

"By blood, anyways." Syd finished the statement.

"Oh really." I said. "Tali, wanna look in the future and tell us otherwise?"

"Jake marries a pretty little blonde and they live happily ever after." Tali pretended to look in the future, which I knew because she didn't space out for quite as long as she usually did checking the future. That and she wasn't completely crushed that she wasn't going to marry him. AND her thoughts said it all if that wasn't enough evidence. Tali was not the best of actresses.

"Oh, so you want to be a blonde, now? Okay, I'll go with that." I played along. To Jake and Tali it was obvious that I was just toying with them, but Syd, Shell, and Zak believed me wholeheartedly. "And what made Jake fall for this blonde?"

"Uh...her si-" Tali was about to say "singing voice", but cut herself off and mumbled to herself. "No, that won't work...her beauty?"

"What kind of beauty?" I smirked and pressed on. I was going to get the answer out of her if I had to drag it out!

"Internal." Tali responded in a bird-kid heartbeat.

"Well there's gotta be something nice about her looks too."

"Well, the only feature Jake likes about her is her hair." Finally, something to work with! I thought she'd never give me anything good and I'd have to listen to one-word answers the entire morning.

"What about her eyes? Didn't he fall for those too? Because I remember Jake told me that he specifically found the eyes appealing in a girl. So if the only feature Jake likes is her hair, Jake must have been pretty messed up, right Natalie?" Hehehe, this was so awesome!

"What are you, a lawyer?" Tali refused to answer.

"Answer the question, Miss Griffiths!" I pretended to be a lawyer just for the heck of it. "Or should I say, Mrs. Denton?" Syd and Shell gasped at the right time, but Zak didn't get it. Jake and Tali on the other hand looked extremely pissed.

"Nope, you shouldn't say Mrs. Denton because that's Jake's mom's name." Poor Zak, still so much to learn.

"There can be more than one name for people, Zak." Syd informed him.

"So what do you mean, Newt? That's not Tali's name." Shell asked for Zak.

"But it will be." I smiled at the thought. Jake, my future brother! I'll never have to sneak out of the house to visit him again.

"You can't prove that." Tali couldn't take it anymore. "I've got the future-telling powers, remember, oh wise one?"

"Well I've got lie detecting so we'll see about that. Tali, show us the future!" I declared, even though I knew the answer.

Yeah right!" Tali claimed. "You really think I'm going to prove it?"

"But my dear sister," I began, knowing she hated it when I called her "dear sister". "If Jake really does marry a pretty little blonde and you don't want to show her to us, that must mean you're lying, right? So if you do show us, then your name will be cleared and I won't bug you anymore."

"And if the future shows otherwise?" Tali glared, but wobbled a bit. My guess was that she was putting way too much effort into this argument, and considering she hasn't gotten a full night's sleep for a week or so, her exhaustion must have finally caught up.

"Are you saying there's an alternative?" I don't think I had this much fun since I found where mom and dad were hiding the Christmas presents. Tali wasn't going to get out of this one! But on the other hand, her eyes were drooping and she did look tired. Weak targets were no fun. And yet, this might be my only chance! I could almost hear my bad side screaming to take advantage of this.

"No, m'not." She suddenly didn't look so fierce, and Jake was fiercely trying not to go over and keep her upright and blow their cover.

"Well then show us." I almost had her, she was about to take us, and the kids were just about to know, but there was a tap on our door. Crap, can't it wait?? I marched over to the door and opened it to have Katie staring back at me.

"Hey Lizard Boy. Hey guys!" Katie greeted me briefly with her British accent and beamed at the little kids.

"Oh hey Katie!" Zak grinned back. "What's up?

"I came to say you're late for chores." She told us, noting how Tali was about to collapse.

"WHAT?" Syd and Shell exclaimed.

"How can we be late?" I asked disbelievingly.

"See the sun? It's in the sky." Katie pointed out the window, sarcasm smeared all over her words.

"I know that, I'm not stupid." My eyes narrowed. She had a serious habit to tease me, which really sucked. "Were we arguing that long?"

"Apparently." She agreed. "What were you arguing about?"

"Tell you later." Jake said. "Let's go, guys."

**A week and one day later (A/N to see the really extended version of this conversation, go to the story that Green.Winged.Mistress and I are working on!)**

**POV Tali**

Oh man, what a week. Especially yesterday. Mom and dad went out to see their parents, which was a trip Newt and I made on our own because they were our grandparents after all. As always, we were invisible the entire time. We didn't talk too much, sort of because I was mad at him for messing with me and Jake and almost telling the little kids, but mainly because we had only seen dad's parents once, when we were babies. Now I could see why. These were plain humans, nothing special, and they looked like they hated anything out of the ordinary. And they didn't get that mom and dad wanted to be together!

I liked Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank's house a lot better. We made the trip with Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak that time, because we knew what was coming. Newt and Zak (Newt especially) were dying to talk to Uncle Matt just a little because he had to be the coolest uncle in the world, showing them how to do all sorts of bombs and pranks and how to get through school without cloning or any effort on your part. Syd and Shell wanted to play with Aunt Gina, who had about a zillion Barbies and accessories (not like the girls didn't at home, but since we were servants, we didn't get to play all too much). I tried to keep them focused, reminding them of what was flying to this place as we spoke, but they didn't really pay attention until dinner, when right after we learned that mom had spied on dad when they were like ten, Grandpa Frank announced that Ari 2 and his flyboys were practically at their door.

Then the kids all looked scared and wanted me to soothe them and forgot all about the people we were spying on. Go figure.

But after the fight was finished, I could hardly speak, and Jake almost had to give me a hug to get me calm again. I didn't know we'd be getting ourselves into this, this…murder and pain and chaos. What was I thinking, getting everyone into this?? All that the six of us could do was watch, maybe take out a flyboy when no one was looking, while we knew our parents were fighting for their lives and getting seriously hurt. It was so hard hearing Aunt Nudge scream when one of the Flyboys lifted her by the hair and another started punching her in the gut. Of course, Newt and Zak didn't care and had to go watch a bomb made by Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy demolish half the house.

It was only when everyone in the house was unconscious that I let them talk and look around.

"Whoa, did you see that explosion?" Zak burst out. He'd been dying to talk the whole time. "My parents are awesome, they made such a great bomb!"

"Nuh uh, my mom blasted through a whole wall of Erasers!" Newt protested.

"But your mom's a genie!"

"So? That was still awesome! And did you completely space out for the showdown between everyone and Ari 2? My dad stayed conscious the longest!"

"Zak, quit it and go find Aunt Angel. Newt, you're acting like a kid again!" I told them. Zak scampered off.

"Tali, I wasn't going to let a nine-year-old beat me, I'm thirteen!" Newt moaned.

"What can we do?" Syd and Shell asked sweetly.

"You, girls, can go look at some of the unconscious people and tell me who's hurt so Newt can heal them." I crouched down to their level and made the job sound like it was the most important task in the world. They nodded and climbed what was left of the stairs. I motioned for Newt to follow them, which he did, so it was just me and Jake left.

"That was scary." I admitted in a whisper to Jake. He had a right to know how I felt, at least.

"We already got ourselves into this." He said back. "We can't get out now."

"I know, but it's just…we're going to have to save these people from a genie that almost made me lose concentration and make us visible. Not a lot of people can do that." I bit my lip.

"Tali, you stood in front of a crowd and didn't make an idiot out of yourself. You lied like a criminal to your family, and they're still clueless about who you are. You're actually teaching Syd, the karate expert, how to fight in combat. I think you'll live." Jake soothed, making sure no one but Newt heard, since Newt was going to hear anyways. I sighed and put my head on his shoulder.

"Tali?" Zak stomped down the stairs and yelled my name, giving me just enough time to get away from Jake. "Aunt Angel's under an air hockey table, and she doesn't have a pulse." Uh oh. I ran up the stairs as soon as my mind figured out that she might be dead. Sure enough, there on the second floor, Aunt Angel was sprawled out with cuts on her forehead, the only thing visible.

"Zak, Jake, go upstairs." I said calmly, trying not to tremble. They obeyed, and I felt what I could feel of my aunt. She didn't seem to be dead, but if she stayed there one more moment, she could slip. I dragged her out just enough for our parents to find her, then joined the guys on the third floor. We couldn't do too much to her, or else someone would think something was up.

"_Don't you think you're being a little too cautious?_" Newt asked in my mind.

"_There's no such thing as being too conscious in a situation like this._" I snapped back. "_What do you want?_"

"_Grandma Stella's waking up. Make us invisible?_"

"_Done. Tell everyone to stick around and DON'T MAKE A SOUND. Even though they're waking up, we can still be caught._" He cut the connection, and we all watched as people gradually woke up and started healing everyone. Dad was last, but he had gotten quite a beating, as did everyone else.

I could have sworn Aunt Gina had sensed us in here, since she almost walked directly into Shell, but she quickly shrugged it off as soon as she heard where Aunt Angel was. Everyone was crowded around her, trying not to cry. Even mom hadn't had enough power to get her completely healed. But they were jumping to conclusions too fast. She wasn't dead, she just needed one more blast to get her broken bone from blocking her pulse. Mom wasn't really in her top shape, so she must have missed it.

"_Newt!"_ I hissed in my mind and dragged him, invisibly, over to her body. "_Do something_!" Newt nodded and held his hands out. He faltered a bit. Can't blame him, considering he never had to save a life before. But still, after a few seconds of effort, Aunt Angel stirred, and everyone was happy that she came back.

The memories still haunted me, though, even though everyone was alright except for some flyboys. We were so close to getting caught so many times, and I didn't want a reminder of what I was going to have to face at mom and dad's wedding. Speaking of which, the night before that was supposed to take place, I couldn't help but stay awake and remember the battle at the house. Would Ari 2 bring as many flyboys as last time, or was he going to underestimate mom again? Who was going to have to kill him in the end? Would one of us get injured? I knew I could look in the future and find out, but if it really was as bad as I imagined, it would be better not to watch.

The moment when we were released from our chores to get ready for the wedding came all too soon. Syd and Shell, on the other hand were ecstatic.

"Come on Tali, while the boys are gone we gotta look as pretty as possible!" Shell squealed. Jeez, what was Disney Channel showing these days?

"Yeah, can you make some changes to our dresses?" Syd asked. "Mine's kinda itchy."

I resisted the urge to say "finally, a reasonable request!" and instead responded with a "sure". Syd and Shell chattered all about how cool this wedding was going to be while I changed in silence. I just didn't have the heart to tell them who was going to show up today.

"Why are you so sad, Tali?" Syd finally noticed.

"Hey, yeah, your parents are getting married and they're gonna have you, why would you be sad about that?" Shell agreed.

"Oh, no, I'm just tired." I smiled wearily at them. Apparently it worked, because they understood.

"Well you know what would make you awake?" Shell offered.

"Dare I ask?" I countered.

"It starts with an 'm'…" Syd caught onto her sister's idea, and together they backed me into a corner. My eyes widened, and I started begging. Not that, anything but that!

"Oh no, please not-"

"MAKEUP!" They squealed together.

"No, I like my face the way it is!" I covered my cheeks so they couldn't add blush. The girls paused.

"Did you just say you liked your face?" Syd cocked her head.

"You're not being modest?" Shell checked.

"Uh…yeah…" Was that going to get me out of this?

"Well just for admitting you're pretty, we're only going to make you do the eyeliner." Syd smirked.

"We got her to say it!" Shell smiled. Was I really that humble about my looks? I had a minute to ponder the topic as Shell carefully drew two smooth lines about my eyes and Syd held up a mirror for me to watch.

"Do you really have to?" I tried one more time.

"If you want to look nice when you're singing, yes you do." Syd told me.

"But no one's going to see it!" I fought on.

"SHH! I'm creating beauty." Shell muted the both of us as she tried to keep her hand from shaking, and I bit my lip so I couldn't laugh.

"Have you been watching TLC again?" I asked.

"Whenever there isn't a good 'That's So Raven' on." Shell said and finished her job. I glanced at myself in the mirror.

"Nice." I commented, but took care not to say too much as Newt was probably listening in about now. "Come in, guys." I prompted the curtain we put up to divide the two halves of the attic, and the boys came out as if they'd been waiting for us. In fact, they probably had been.

"Well, let's get this over with then." I sighed, and we departed.

"So why are you so sad, Demi?" Zak asked. Praise the lord, he remembered the fake names!

"You noticed too, huh?" Syd agreed with him.

"Oh, nothing." I said.

"Ari 2's going to show up at the wedding." Newt blatantly pointed out, and everyone stopped in their tracks. I glared at him.

"WHAT??" Shell almost shrieked.

"Ari 2's coming?" Zak panicked.

"No, guys, calm down!" I soothed on instinct.

"So he's not coming?" Syd hoped.

"Look, I'll level with you. Ari 2 is coming. I'm just a bit concerned, I mean I'm not sure if you guys are going to turn out alright." I sighed.

"Why, did you see something?" Newt asked, then instantly shook his head. "No, you didn't, so you're just worried of something you can easily look up?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't want to look in the future because it's not always 100 true."

"So? That hasn't stopped you before!" Newt pressured.

"I'm not looking, alright? But I want you guys to swear that you'll do your best when the fight comes. I'm not losing any of you if I can help it."

"We swear." Syd, Shell, and Zak all promised. I have them trained well.

"But a promise isn't going to- ow!" Newt was just about to interrupt my peace of mind before Jake elbowed him in the gut. I nodded at him and then gave a small smile to the guys.

"C'mon, let's get this over with." I beckoned for us to keep going.

"This is gonna be such a cool fight, I bet 's gonna go BOOOOOM!! And Tali's gonna like zap him or something and Iggy and Rina can be like WHAP!!! And they'll knock him into a corner and then out of nowhere in the darkness comes ZAK-ATTACK, and Zak-Attack goes-" Zak, Zak, Zak, such a strange boy. I think I've let Newt play with him a bit too long. And he used our real names! Good thing we were out of range. And Newt could always make people think he was making people up.

"Taylor!" Shell exclaimed. "You know it's not gonna be like that, someone's probably going to get hurt!" She bit her lip.

"Don't worry Skye, I won't let mean old Ari 2 get ya." Syd put an arm around her twin, who smiled gratefully.

"So where are we going anyways?" Newt asked.

"Same places as last wedding, you guys go with the guys and us girls go with the girls."

"And when…it happens?" Jake added.

"When that happens, it'll just be instinct from there." I said regretfully. I hated the butterflies in my stomach that were screaming at me to just look ahead, or better yet run away and not fight at all. But no, it had to be completely blind, so then I didn't have to see who got hurt and if we even won the battle, not until I absolutely had to. Self control is really annoying sometimes.

"Demi!" A voice called from around the corner. Katie and James came around the corner, looking glad to see the six of us.

"Hey Katie, James, haven't seen you in a while." I smiled wearily.

"Yeah, well, you know…your masters want the six of you." James stated.

"They're in Iggy's room." Katie added, grinning at the little kids who were all waving.

"What are you doing out in the day?" Newt asked from behind me.

"We're allowed the day off every once in a while." Katie told him.

"You get days off??" Syd asked incredulously.

"No fair!" Shell almost yelled. "We work all the time!"

"Well that's because we're special, right?" I hinted the girls. "We have to serve our masters whenever they need it, and we get paid a fair amount for it."

"She's right." James nodded.

"Have fun on your day off!" Zak beamed. "Hey, can you come to the wedding later on?"

"We'll see." Katie ruffled his hair.

"See ya later, then." I twitched a smile, not really wanting to leave. James nodded in return, but Katie stared at Newt vacantly, shook out of it, and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Best of luck, to all of you." She told us, then turned around the corner with James. I turned to Newt.

"You told her, didn't you?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Why make them wait to hear whatever excuse Mr. Denton comes up for our deaths?" Newt shrugged, and my narrowed eyes turned into a full glare. The little kids' smiles faltered a little.

"Death?" Syd squeaked out.

"Death??" Shell asked more timidly than her twin, if that was possible.

"No, Newt was just being an idiot, guys. We'll make it through. And I'll even let you get a kick at him," I gestured to Syd, not wanting to use her fake name, and she lightened up a bit. "You can unleash the Zak-Attack on him," I pointed to Zak. "And I'll let you eat a triple-fudge sundae after we're done." Shell perked up a considerable amount at the word "fudge". "Newt just doesn't think you can make it, but I know you can, right guys?"

"Yes ma'am!" Zak saluted.

"That's the spirit. Now let's go see what they want." I was walking during the lecture, so by now we were at dad's door. Zak knocked eagerly, and we all poured in through the door to stand in front of dad, Fang, Uncle Gazzy, and what looked to be…Uncle Matt? No way, Uncle Matt was here! I glanced over at Newt, who was almost vibrating with excitement. Uncle Matt could be considered the best uncle in the world because he let us stay up late and eat anything we wanted when we slept over, and he taught Newt how to fight and use his powers to get through school without any effort. Oh yeah, and Zak liked him too because Uncle Matt treated him like his own nephew.

"What do you need?" I was the first to speak, noting that they were already dressed.

"Just need some people to show us to breakfast." Dad explained. "You three are girls, go see if Rina needs anything." I fought the urge to say "thanks for noticing" and turned to leave with Syd and Shell, but pity took over me. Dad was really freaked for this wedding, I could feel it a mile away. Best to be nice to him. "Wait, since I need to make sure everything's good, you guys good for the band?" How did he remember? I certainly forgot.

"Yeah, we'll play at the reception, just like last time." I informed him, and we left to visit mom. I could only hope I didn't have to help with another makeover.

**POV Newt**

Oh man oh man oh man Uncle Matt was here! The guy who let me come over to his room and blast any kind of music so loud it shattered the windows, the guy who encouraged me to eat anything I wanted, including sugar and fried foods, the guy who taught me how to make my fire look like a huge dragon that was about to eat me, the most awesome uncle on mom's side of the family! Who cared about being a servant, who cared that Ari 2 was- oh, right. That kinda dampened my mood right there.

Tali, Syd, and Shell left the room, probably to go make mom look like an alien (makeup can do that), which left me, Jake, and Zak alone with our dads and uncles.

"Who's that?" Zak blurted and pointed at Uncle Matt. Poor kid, he didn't get to see Uncle Matt nearly as much, so he wouldn't recognize him.

"Right, Taylor, Dylan, Mini Fnick, this is Matt, Rina's older brother. Matt, Dylan's the kid with the dirty blonde hair, Mini Fnick's real name is Kyle and he looks like Fang, and Taylor's the one who asked who you are." Dad introduced all of us, not like I needed an introduction. We were in the presence of a genie, though, so I checked to make sure no one could read our minds or get any info on who we really were.

"Hi, hi, and hi. Now take us to breakfast!" Uncle Matt greeted us impatiently.

"Yes sir, Mister Matt sir." I saluted playfully and we led them to the kitchen. It was one of the most gruesome, and yet most entertaining, things to watch. He was like lightning, as always, just eating, eating, making food, and eating while he made the food. Zak was gaping at him like Uncle Matt was some monster. Jake stood there fascinated. No one here was sure how someone could eat that much.

There was just one thing that distracted me. Dad was thinking weird thoughts. Not only was he concerned about Ari 2, he was worried about his wedding! Sure, a lifetime commitment, what's wrong with that? I had to talk some sense into him before he got any ideas.

"Can I talk to you?" I pulled on dad's sleeve like when I was five.

"Sure." He said, not really taking in what I said because of the sight before his eyes, so I dragged him over to a corner. "What's up?" There, that's the attention I wanted.

"You want us to watch over him-" I nodded over to Uncle Matt "-while you take care of stuff? I think he's going to be here for a while." Hey, I may as well watch him, he's so fun to watch!

"Yeah, that would be great, actually. How'd you know I needed to do stuff?"

"The groom always checks on things while the bride gets ready."

"Rina must be a traditionalist, then."

"Not really." Crap! I hope he thinks I know her enough to know that.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's marrying you, isn't she? I'd think most genies would marry other genies. Superiority and all that stuff." Nice save Newt, go Newt, go Newt!

"Yeah, good thing she isn't like that." Dad went to go watch Uncle Matt eat again (he never did stop), but I suddenly remembered why I really wanted to talk in the first place and grabbed him back.

"One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"You're feeling okay?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" Liar, big liar. He was completely freaked. He just didn't want to admit it because then he'd feel even worse.

"Your nerves aren't acting up?"

"Not really. They might later, but now they're fine."

"You're not going to run away at the last second, are you?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Look, I'm just checking. A lot of guys get nervous at their weddings. I just wanted to make sure you're okay." Oh yeah, plus our existence might be nice if you could manage that.

"Thanks, Dylan." Dad ruffled my hair. Ah, just like old times. "You're not a bad kid."

"Thanks." I grinned. I got it from the best. "But you're not going to run out on Rina, are you?"

"What makes you think I would?"

"Just answer. Would you?"

"No, never."

"Good. Now go do your stuff. We'll watch Matt for you." I shooed him over to get Fang and Uncle Gazzy away from Uncle Matt so I could read his mind a bit and see how he was doing so far. Uncle Gazzy gave dad a questioning look.

"C'mon, they're gonna watch Matt for us." Dad said, and they left after Zak and I waved them goodbye.

"Wait!" I just got the best idea!

"What now?" Dad swung around and ran into me.

"You'll need a guide." I pulled Jake over to dad. Dad would have to deal with them by himself so no one would stop us from messing around with Uncle Matt! "Have fun!" Dad was about to object, but he knew as well as I did that we liked messing with silent guys and getting them on the verge of talking.

"Thanks, Dylan." He thanked me with a sparkle in his eye, then shut the door. I spun over to Zak and Uncle Matt.

"Hey Matt!" Zak spoke his name just to see if he was concentrating on his food alone. He was. He just kept shoveling food into him mouth, occasionally pointing for one of us to get him some food. I'm sure either me or Zak would have complained, but it was just too entertaining.

**POV Jake (A/N I know you're all probably bored out of your minds, and I'm sorry, but hang in there, it gets better!)**

"You'll need a guide." Newt dragged me over to dad, Iggy, and Uncle Gazzy. Great, get dressed in an extremely itchy tux, don't even get to talk to Tali alone for a few seconds to calm her nerves, and now I can't just sit, relax, and watch a genie eat. Instead I have to go guide my parents through the mansion.

"Thanks Dylan." Iggy told Newt, then shut the door.

"So now what?" Uncle Gazzy asked.

"Uh…I guess we could see how things are doing." Iggy offered. "Kyle, is there something we need to check on?"

"Band, decorations, reception, guest list." I shrugged and listed the first few things that came to my mind.

"I call checking on the band!" Uncle Gazzy called out. "Kyle, you guys are playing at the reception, right?" I nodded. "And you've got your instruments?" Another nod. "And you know what you're gonna play?" What is it with me and nodding? "Alright, I'm done." Uncle Gazzy turned to dad and Iggy.

"Very good, Gazzy." Iggy tried not to roll his eyes. "Okay, Kyle, could you take us down to the gardens?" Once again, I nodded, and guided them to the back door and down the hill to the special lawn set aside for the wedding. The grass was manicured just now, the chairs were already set up, and all the place needed was some people. Not half bad, in short.

Iggy did a bit of checking up on things (we were all bored out of our minds, including Iggy, but no one said anything), and the only thing worthy of noting was that they were out of cups for the reception.

"Kyle, could you show me to the kitchens?" Iggy asked me.

"So we're just gonna sit here while you get stuff?" Uncle Gazzy asked the entire room.

"You could go play video games, or watch a movie." Fang offered.

"Ooh, that one!" Uncle Gazzy said.

"Fine, Kyle comes with me to the kitchen, Fang takes Gazzy to the movie room." Iggy settled.

"You know where the movie room is?" I checked, and dad nodded. We went our separate ways.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do alone with Iggy. Tell him that his daughter was freaked for the big showdown today? I wished. A thought ran through my mind, but it evaporated almost immediately when I heard a noise. I never heard it before, and I lived in this place my whole life, so I stopped and tried to face it. Iggy went on walking.

"Wait." I called over to him, and he stopped and turned around. "I heard something." I probably sounded like one of those freaked-out guys from a horror movie, which might be why Iggy just shook his head.

"Kyle, what did you think it was, a-" He didn't choke out any more than that because out of the shadows of the corner, two hands grabbed him and snatched him away from view.

"Iggy!" I lost myself and yelled, running to the corner and feeling through the dark, trying to grab him. A wolf-like face peered out of the darkness and sneered at me.

"Oh look, you have a little bodyguard." He cooed in a mocking baby voice. "Let's bring you too." His ugly, rough, _furry_ hand cupped itself over me and dragged me down. I opened my eyes in a dim cellar. Dad took me down here once or twice, so I knew it was the wine cellar. Iggy was tied and gagged in a corner, and in a second I was too, and he tossed me over to sit next to my fellow captive. Iggy had already started struggling while I sat silently, waiting for some opportunity. I didn't know it would happen so fast.

**POV Newt**

Uncle Matt ate so much I thought I was going to be sick myself, and I'm part genie. If I even tried consuming that much food I'd get a seizure, but Uncle Matt just leaned back in his chair and smiled.

"Ah, now THAT'S good eating. So what do you do for fun around here?" The last part was directed to me and Zak.

"Well we're servants so we don't really do a lot for fun, it's unfair really but we get paid and stuff, but if you're a guest then you could go watch a movie in a mini movie theater or play video games or if you have some other people to play with you could-" Zak rattled off a few ideas.

"Okay, where's the movie theater?" Uncle Matt asked, full of energy. Food always gave him that feeling that he once described as the feeling humans get when they're on adrenaline.

"We'll take you." I offered.

"So what are you gonna watch? Can we stick around? Because we're like really bored, we won't have anything to do until the wedding-" Zak interviewed.

"Ugh, don't get me started about the wedding." I interrupted to try and impress Uncle Matt. Can't a guy make a good impression on people before he's supposed to be born? I can. "I've gotta get in an itchy tux and watch two people I serve get married and then I have to play guitar for a zillion hours while everyone eats and parties!"

"Ugh, I KNOW! How can you go without eating? It's gotta be hard for you, you're human." Uncle Matt agreed.

"Only partially." Crap! It slipped out, that's my response for everything where I come from!

"Come again?" Uncle Matt cocked his head.

"I mean…these hours, the ones that a servant has to work, they're inhuman!" Please play along please play along please play along!

"Why would you want me to play along?" Uncle Matt was getting suspicious. Oh man, I forgot to block our minds! Mom might have found out when she was around Tali and Syd and Shell! I fixed it as rapidly as I could. Uncle Matt tried again. "What, your mom's here? And who are these people you're talking about?" Oh man, how could I forget that Uncle Matt could read minds too?

"Absolutely nothing, Matt, absolutely nothing." I shook my head, pretending he was hearing things.

"And now I can't read your mind at all!" Uncle Matt protested. "What's going on?"

"Oh look, we're here!" Zak announced as we approached the movie room. If I wasn't trying to beat Uncle Matt in a game of wits, I would have noticed how that might have been the shortest sentence Zak ever spoke. He opened the door for Uncle Matt, who walked in and waited for us to follow. Zak skipped in, being so naïve that he thought Uncle Matt couldn't find out from him, and I closed the door hesitantly. Uncle Matt had me pinned to the wall the moment the lock clicked.

"I want to know who you are and what you're doing here, and I want it now." He hissed. Wow, there goes super-cool Uncle Matt.

"What…what are you talking about?" I stammered.

"Newt, you stammer?" Zak asked. "You're always so brave and stuff, how could you stutter?"

"That's one thing, he just called you Newt when Iggy called you Dylan." Uncle Matt's eyes narrowed. "I can't read your mind, or at least I couldn't until we were in the halls. Are you spies?" At this he pressed me harder. "Murderers? Because I can kill you before you kill whoever you're looking for."

"Far from it." I explained as coolly as I could, which meant I sounded like a five-year-old. "We're here to save someone."

"Yeah right!" Uncle Matt almost yelled.

"You know I'm not lying, Uncle Matt, you have a lie detector!" There were two things wrong with that sentence. Thing number one: I told him about a power he didn't mention. Thing number two: I called him my uncle. He slowly let me go and backed away and into Zak.

"Hi Uncle Matt! Wow I really like using what I usually call you, and now that I can call you what I want, can you call me what I want you to call me, which is Zak? You know, because that's my name and all, I really like it, and I know you do too, and you're also really scared and curious and you wanna know who we are, and your guesses are nowhere close!" Zak chattered cheerily to Uncle Matt, whose eyes widened.

"_What are these kids? Who are they saving? What about the other kids they were with, are they in on this too? And what's the shrimp saying about my guesses?_" Uncle Matt's mind ran through a thousand thoughts a moment. "_Is he a mind reader?_"

"No, he's not a mind reader." I went over to stand behind Zak and pull him back before Uncle Matt started climbing the walls. "But I am. I was trying to block our minds, but I dropped my guard for a few moments and, well, you know that part." Uncle Matt was gaping like a fish about now. I wonder if mom and dad will react the same way if and when we tell them who we are.

"Can we tell him, Newt, please oh please oh please?" Zak gave me Bambi eyes, a handy tool of his, and I nodded. "Okay, so you know these people your sister hangs out with?"

"Woah, wait, Zak. I've got a lazier idea. Uncle Matt, could I borrow your hand please?" Instead of reaching out to me, Uncle Matt stuffed his hands in his pockets so I wouldn't get them.

"Please Uncle Matt? He's not gonna bite, he's gonna make this clearer, so then you know who we are and why we're calling you uncle!" Zak asked in a convincing tone. Uncle Matt held out his hand to me but almost took it back when I grabbed it like a cobra and stuck it to my forehead. His expression became blank as I donated all my memories and thoughts to him so he'd understand.

"Whatcha doing?" Zak asked with mild interest.

"Just showing him a bit of my mind. This saves you from some talking and me and Uncle Matt from a headache."

"Aww, but I like talking, I can explain stuff to people and sound smart and- oh Uncle Matt, you're alive, so what's it like in Newt's head?" Zak broke himself off and smiled at Uncle Matt, who was letting all the information sink in.

"So…you're my nephew?" Uncle Matt pointed to me.

"Yup. And you've got a niece, my sister, Tali." I said.

"And you're my nephew too? And you've got that touching power so you knew how I was feeling?" He pointed to Zak.

"About the power, yeah, but for the first thing, mo, not really, you just play with me because I'm a family friend and Newt and Tali watch me a lot. In fact, they watch me all the time, but you're one of the coolest adults to watch over us!" Zak corrected.

"Uh…thanks, I guess. Oh man, Rina's coming!" Without further adieu, he leaped into one of the reclining chairs, flicked on the T.V, and started laughing at some show that was on at the time. I threw him a bit of popcorn to make it look like he was there for a while, and he caught it and laughed so hard he spilled it everywhere. But instead of seeing mom coming through the door, there was a big white bubble that floated over to Uncle Matt's side.

"MATT!" he almost jumped out of the chair when the bubble yelled his name, and Zak actually gave a little yelp. Yup, that's mom talking through the bubble.

"What?! What'd I do?! Oh, it's you, Rina. Jeez, don't scare me like that!" Uncle Matt recovered. Jeez, he looked like he'd been sitting there for hours on end, with the popcorn spilled over his front!

"Yeah, sorry. Where's Iggy? He's not with you, is he?" Mom didn't really sound sorry at all, to be honest.

"Who's Iggy?" Why was Uncle Matt acting so dumb? We were just talking about dad!

"The tall blonde guy who used to be blind."

"Who?"

"Your future brother-in-law."

"What's an in-law?"

"The guy you took to China and Switzerland to eat?"

"Oh, the guy who didn't eat anything! What about him?" Uncle Matt finally, FINALLY, caught one!

"I think his memory runs on food." Zak whispered to me, and I snickered. The kid had a point.

"Is he with you?" Mom asked. Well if he was, I really shouldn't have been talking to Uncle Matt like I was just now.

"Nope."

"What?! What happened to him?"

"Nothing. When we were in the kitchens he talked with that Dylan kid about them watching me while I ate, and then he took Gazzy and Fang and Mini Fnick and went to make sure everything was ready, and that Taylor kid and the guy named Dylan took me here." Wow, he got the fake names! I should pay him or something.

"And how long ago was that?"

"'Bout three hours ago."

"Where is he if he isn't with you, then?"

"What do I look like, the Dalai Llama?"

"Just use your powers to try and find him."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm going to beat you to a pulp if you don't start looking right now." Max? Max was here too? I wonder if Tali was there too, and if she was, I hoped she couldn't feel my huge amount of guilt through the bubble. Uncle Matt closed his eyes in concentration and opened them a few seconds later.

"Nope, no clue where he is. Can I go now?"

"Yeah." The bubble burst, and Uncle Matt got up from the chair, sweeping popcorn kernels off his shirt. Back to business.

"Okay, so one of you is my nephew and one of you is my nephew's friend who hangs out with him a lot." He checked incredulously.

"Don't forget the niece." Zak mentioned.

"Right. Well, I've heard weirder." Uncle Matt shrugged. HUH? Zak and I looked at each other.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I'm a genie! I've heard of a lot of strange stuff, and this wouldn't even make the top five, though it's a surprise. You do look a lot like Iggy, anyways." Uncle Matt explained.

"Would we make the top ten?" Zak asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't worry about that right now." Uncle Matt shook his head. "But what I would be worried about, if I were you, is the fact that your mom just told me she has no clue where your dad is."

"Well I don't know who mine are anyways, I'm adopted, but I've got these really amazing adopted parents who are so cool!" Zak rambled. "Or were you talking to Newt?"

"Newt. So Newt, if no genies here can find your dad, that must mean that someone's blocking his signal, probably another genie, since no one else can do that."

"Right…" I nodded, not really seeing where he was going with this.

"So if some genie's got your dad, that means he doesn't want anyone to find him, and possibly save him from damage that genie is going to do."

"And?" I questioned. What was Uncle Matt trying to say?

"Newt, you're chasing a genie, Ari 2, who's out for revenge on your parents. Don't you think you should go save him or something?"

"OH CRAP!" I yelled and was about to zoom out the door, but Uncle Matt restrained me.

"A few things." He said calmly, not worried at all about the fact that I was about to not exist.

"Well my life is depending on it, make it quick!" I moaned. How could I be so stupid?? I was so worried about my uncle finding out who I was that I forgot to guard my parents!

"First of all, I'm pretending this never happened, for your guys' sake." Uncle Matt told me.

"Alright, alright!" I snapped.

"Second, remember all the fighting moves I'm going to teach you when you're born, some of those could save your life."

"Ooh, don't forget the fire-breathing dragon trick, that was so scary and so cool!" Zak was vibrating with a mix of thrill and tension but mainly thrill.

"Come on Zak, you know Ari 2 could go out and kill your parents! We need to go, NOW!" I twitched and tried to break from Uncle Matt's grip. Yes, I was making this harder for Zak, but I'd rather have a scared Zak than no Zak at all.

"Third of all, I'm glad you're my nephew." That one made me stop. I turned to face Uncle Matt, who was staring down at me to see if I really had the Bailey nose. He was also thinking that it'd be fun having a nephew. "Well, go on, go save them!" He let go of me and I rubbed my arms where he had kept me planted next to him.

"Aren't you going to come, Uncle Matt?" Zak asked in a tone so rapid I didn't know if he was speaking or imitating a hummingbird.

"Nah, I think you saw me at the last battle, I really don't want another one." Uncle Matt shook his head. I grabbed Zak's wrist, gave a nod to Uncle Matt, and sped out of there with Zak trailing behind me.

"Nnnewt I'm huuuman, I can'tttake this speeeeed!" Zak whined as I ran us out to the gardens. Oh, right, he's human. I slowed down once I saw that I was about to hit a mound of dirt, and stopped in front of it just in time.

"Okay, Zak, go find Syd and Shell and bring them to the door of the wine cellar so we can break in and rescue dad." I frantically looked into the wine cellar with my mind to see dad and Jake tied up, instructed Zak, and ran down the hill at such a speed no one would think was human.

"TALI!" I skidded to a stop in front of her. "We gotta go NOW! Huge problem! Ari 2's in the wine cellar and he's got Jake and d- ooh." And I said all this in front of mom. Jeez, I'm so smart today! Note sarcasm. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that?"

"Chill, Newt, she knows about the fake names." Huh? Never mind, this saves me from another lecture or panic attack from Tali, whichever came first.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Iggy is, would you?" Mom asked me, desperate for some sign of dad. I cocked my head. Didn't Tali just say she explained?

"I just said." I told her.

"No you didn't." Mom disagreed.

"Yeah I did." I looked back to Demi for an explanation.

"Okay, maybe I _only_ told her about the fake names." Tali smiled sheepishly and I rolled my eyes.

"Okay then, let me rephrase for those who don't know who we're talking about. Iggy is in the wine cellar with Kyle, and they're both tied up and blindfolded with-"

"Iggy!" Mom jumped back onto the ground and started running back to the house to save dad. Hey, that's our job, don't steal it! Oh, wait…

"But I wouldn't- she's never going to listen to me, is she?" I asked Tali. She shook her head no as we observed mom running into the distance.

"So shall we get to it?" Tali sighed, not too willing to watch loved ones get hurt.

"Fine." I agreed, and ran down to the cellar door while Tali teleported at the same time. I know some of you readers might be thinking "What? You're supposed to perform your powers in secret! How could you do them in the open?" The answer to that is that we needed to save our parents, and if someone knew we were from the future, we couldn't really care at the moment.

**POV Zak**

"Okay, Zak, go find Syd and Shell and bring them to the door of the wine cellar so we can break in and rescue dad." Newt told me in super-speed mode so I could hardly hear him, then zoomed off to go get Tali. I ran to hunt down Syd and Shell. Lemme see, they'd never really leave their aunts because they're supposed to serve them, and besides, they liked them too much, so I ran down the hill as fast as I could without tripping so I could tell them.

Yup, there they were, talking with mom and Aunt Angel about who knows what. I didn't really want to know, it was an emergency! Iggy and Rina might die and then go kill everyone, including my parents, and then I'd live with my real parents or maybe some other family and I'd be the only one to exist. That couldn't be good!

"Sorry, there's a problem we need to attend to." I said in my best manners to mom and Aunt Angel as I grabbed the girls' wrists and yanked them out of the area and towards the mansion. Once we were out of earshot, I muttered "Okay, here's the thing, Ari 2 showed up and he took Iggy and Rina and he might kill them!"

"No way!" Shell gasped.

"I'm not letting him get anywhere near my aunt and uncle!" Syd punched her fist to make a point.

"Yeah, me neither! C'mon, Newt told us to go meet them at the door to the wine cellar. Wait," I stopped. "Where's the wine cellar?"

"I found it when we were playing hide and seek when I was seven, I know where it is." Syd claimed and led us through some halls I don't think I've seen for a few months now to an old wooden door that could have been there since World War II. Newt and Tali were already there pacing and waiting for us.

"So, what happened so far? And where's Jake?" I was the first to ask.

"I heard a loud crash just now and then something fell to the floor. I think it was mom." Tali grimaced. "And you're right, Zak, where IS Jake?"

"I gave him over to watch dad, Fang, and Uncle Gazzy, and that's the last I saw of him." Newt offered.

"How long ago was that?" Tali asked with a tone of worry. Poor Tali, she always wants everyone safe. She must be really worried that one of us will be hurt.

"Three or four hours." Tali gasped, and Newt raised his eyebrows.

"Jake's in the cellar!" Tali whispered.

"Wow Tali, you look like you've seen a ghost!" I commented. She really did. I wonder if she'd do that if Newt disappeared? Or Syd? Or Shell? Or me? But if she was that scared, maybe I didn't want to find out.

"He defended dad and got captured too!" Tali went on. "Ari 2 might kill him!"

"Stop exaggerating, Tali." Newt soothed, if you could call an unimpressed tone soothing.

"Exaggerating? _Exaggerating?_ Newt, you don't know the meaning of the word exaggerating!" Tali almost screamed.

"I don't either." Syd announced.

"Me neither." Shell agreed, as always.

"Me neither!" I raised my hand.

"She's making too big a deal out of things." Newt told us.

"Newt, you're the one who said one of us was going to die, and you have the nerve to call me exaggerating!" Tali snapped at him. "We need to save them, all of them! Oh, but we need some plan! I should have thought this through!" Now she was moaning, and dropped her head in her hands.

"You know it'll be okay, Tali." Syd told her. I agreed with her. It was so sad to see Tali so frustrated!

"Thanks Syd, but can you think of a way to save them?" Tali peered up hopefully. She opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking.

"Nope, nothing." She finally told Tali, as much as she hated to hear it.

"Wait, Newt, can we get Uncle Matt to go in and save them?" I asked Newt.

"No, Zak, kiddo, that won't work, Uncle Matt can't know we're here." Tali shook her head and didn't look at anyone.

"Yes he-" Newt glared at me. Okay, so I'm not going to suggest that…

"We couldn't get help anyways, I froze time." Tali informed us a bit more. "It's just us, you know, three almost-human kids and two half-genies that hardly mastered their powers."

"Well why can't you just open the door? Human kids can do that!" I offered.

"Because he's a genie, silly!" Shell shook her head.

"He can lock us out!" Syd motioned by trying to reach the doorknob. Her hand didn't come within a centimeter of the brass knob.

"Nuh uh, you're faking." I moved Syd over and grabbed for it myself, but my hand hit some invisible force field. Well, whadaya know.

"Nice try guys." Tali smiled weakly.

"Ugh, Tali, stop it with the feelings!" Newt scoffed. "There's one thing you completely forgot!"

"And that is?" Tali raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you have two bomb technicians right here." Newt grinned evilly, and I caught on and beamed.

"Can we use Big Papa?" I named the bomb our parents told us to only use in an emergency.

"Is this an emergency?" Newt asked. I was going to answer, but suddenly Rina screamed through the doorway. Wow, if Ari 2 was causing her that much pain, I think that was an emergency! Newt was already talking to Tali. "Okay Tali, get us the stuff for Big Papa!" She made them out of thin air and Newt and I assembled the bomb as fast as we could.

"Hurry up guys, I don't hear fighting anymore!" Shell said. We had her climb up on Syd's shoulders and listen for what's going on, and Syd wasn't too happy.

"Shell, I'm never going to let you eat a triple-fudge sundae ever again!" She groaned.

"Hey, at least I'm helping and not wobbling around and groaning and NOT helping!" Shell responded and leaned on the door again.

"Okay, it's ready!" I announced, and everyone stepped over to the opposite wall. Tali put a force field over us, and I counted down. "Exploding in three, two, one-"

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!" I tried so hard to resist the urge to laugh evilly, and instead watched in awe as bits and pieces of the wall and door sprayed everywhere.

"Quick, get in before he seals it again!" Tali warned us and took away the force field. We scurried in. Jake! He was tied up on the floor next to Iggy and Ari 2, and there was Rina lying on the floor!

"Syd, Shell, Zak, untie them. Newt, heal her. And hurry!" Tali commanded, and since Syd and Shell were already working on both Iggy and Jake, I sat and watched.

"Tara?" Iggy croaked to Syd, who had taken off his blindfold first.

"Well, you heard Tali use my real name, so just call me Syd." Syd explained.

"And I'm Shell." Shell added.

"Right." Iggy didn't really seem to care. "How's Rina?"

"See for yourself." I nodded towards a corner of the basement, near the stairs, where Rina was lying on the floor and bleeding. Tali was standing facing Ari 2 and making a force field to protect her, Rina, and Newt, who was trying to heal Rina. Ari 2 tried to get closer to them, but the force field blocked him from getting any closer than ten feet. Oh, so that's what Ari 2 looks like! I didn't see him really up close and personal, but now I knew that he looked like Wolverine. I'd go up and ask for his autograph if he wasn't pure evil or anything.

"Come on Newt, wake her up!" Tali worried. "I can't hold this forever!"

"I'm not so good at treating these types of injuries, Tali! Snapped bones, powers barely stable, lot's of bleeding, we're lucky she isn't dead!" Newt snapped back, waving his hands and trying to make something happen. He looked really stressed, and so did Tali. I wished I had powers so I could help them! All I got to do was watch, which wasn't really fair because Tali promised I could fight him a bit.

"I think I've got something…" Newt muttered, and Rina's blood flow stopped and she didn't look like her bones were made of pipe cleaners that were bent out of shape. Rina's eye snapped open and she sat up. "What are you doing?" she fired at them, full spirited. Newt was as thrilled as a guy like him could be that his mom was healed, but Tali just stared at her.

"Never mind that, just take care of Ari 2!" Tali told Rina, but instead she studied her blankly. "Trying to read my mind?" Tali asked.

"Yeah. What are you all doing here? Iggy, you're okay!" Rina noticed Iggy and wanted to go over to hug him, but Tali stopped her. I thought Rina was smarter than this? She needs to finish off the guy ramming at their force field!

"Normally I'd let you celebrate all you wanted with Iggy, but there's still the matter of Ari 2!" Tali tried to get her mom to help, but no, she just eyed the force field protecting them.

"What? Where'd the force field come from?" She asked.

"You mean you're not doing this?" Iggy called over to her, since he couldn't run over and ask her (Jake and I had to restrain him and draw attention to us. But it didn't work because Ari 2 remembered that Iggy was here, and charged towards us. We braced ourselves for something similar to the latest bomb, but another force field popped up just in time. And Tali thought we were going to hurt ourselves!

"I'm not the one making these force fields!" Rina told Iggy, who was giving her a questioning look.

"Then who is?" Iggy asked.

"That would be me." Tali answered. "And since you don't seem to want to do anything about your attacker…" she reversed the force field so it disappeared from over and surrounded Ari 2. This one was even better though, because instead of it just being a dome, he was trapped in a big ball, like a piñata! But then again, I forgot Ari 2 was a genie, but he was, so he started using his powers to cause chaos. Shelves of wine were suddenly knocked over like dominoes, wind was blowing everywhere (I almost fell into the wall, and I might have if I wasn't holding onto Iggy!) and fires burst at random points. Ari 2 also tried to make clones to cause more damage, but they all just stayed in the force field, which almost squished him.

"Whoa. Didn't see that one coming." Iggy muttered under his breath. I agreed entirely.

"You got that right!" Rina yelled over to our side of the room as she made the force field stronger. Tali's didn't look too stable at the moment, barely enough to keep him in. This probably took a lot of energy from her, and I was just sitting here watching and trying not to get hurt with all the flying- oh no, a broken bottle! I avoided it just in time, and it whizzed past Shell and into the wall.

"Newt!" Tali called over to Newt, who was currently dodging some flying crates of brandy.

"What?" he bellowed as he rolled beneath another crate.

"Start the laser vision to his heart!"

"I'm kinda busy at the moment!" At least he remembered his super-speed and ran over next to Iggy. By this point, Jake and I had let go of him so he could go join the fight and keep us from getting a broken arm.

"Iggy, cover him!" Tali shouted as some shards of glass bottles cut across the cellar, straight for Newt. How did she remember not to call him dad right THEN? Oh well, it was still an amazing move he performed. Basically, he grabbed a nearby crate lid and caught them point first before they could get any closer to Newt.

"It won't work!" Newt tried to correct Tali about the laser vision. "He won't die!"

"Yes he will!" Tali shrieked as Jake ran out, grabbed Newt's arm, twisted it behind him, and forced him forward. Go Jake, make Newt kill Ari 2!!! Syd and Shell were cheering for him, but no one heard it in the wind. "Newt, he's free, if you use the laser vision he'll die!" I thought I heard Tali yell. The winds were picking up now, and Ari 2 realized we were here so he sent a few vipers over to Syd and Shell, which I squished with my shoe. Newt obeyed Tali's command, possibly due to Jake forcing him, and red lasers beamed through his eyes and deflected off the force field. I would have watched, but some patches of fire burst where I was standing, and I ran away before I could catch it.

"There needs to be a hole for him to- eek!" Rina got halfway through her sentence before she saw some loose shelves flying towards her and remembered to duck.

"You make the hole, you're more experienced!" Tali called back to her mom. A tiny hole appeared right over Ari 2's heart and Newt's laser vision got through and started frying through Ari 2's shirt. Or at least, I think, I had to get out of the way of some shelves crashing to the floor. Once it hit the skin he cried out and tried to deflect it, but Newt just made it stronger so it burned through anything he held up.

"It's working!" Tali encouraged. "A little more!" But Ari 2 got smart, and made himself transparent. Oh, sure, ruin one of the coolest shows ever! This was better than live T.V, and I couldn't even see how it ended! The red laser hit at the other end of the force field, bounced through where Ari 2's chest used to be, and would have went out of the hole and right at Iggy if Rina didn't close it just in time. Instead it bounced against the walls of the sphere like a laser show. Well, at least it wasn't boring. I thought I saw it make a duck! Ari 2 looked kinda weak from already being burned, but he smiled evilly as the lasers went right through him. Newt was about to complain that the plan didn't work, but Tali held up a finger.

"Wait. Give him ten more seconds." I'll take that bet! I started counting by Mississippi's as the laser continued to bounce around. Ari 2 wobbled a little bit, his smile fading, and by my tenth second he collapsed completely. Everyone looked at Rina the genie expert, and she explained.

"The damage made him unconscious. His heart is literally torn, but he could heal at any moment, given the time."

"No, keep watching the laser." Tali corrected. We kept watching the red laser rebound off of every wall it hit. Then something amazing happened. It was kinda like a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing. The laser's last hit angled it to hit the very top of the field, so when it bounced off the top it went straight down and through Ari 2's heart. I could have sworn I heard a squish sound, too.

Syd and Shell gasped, but the rest of the room was perfectly soundless. He was dead. He was dead! Woohoo, now Tali didn't have to be stressed and worry! And no one died but Ari 2! This called for cake, but no one looked up to making some right now.

"Congrats." Jake broke the silence (Jake talked first? There's a new one) by patting Newt on the back. "Your first murder."

"I didn't- oh, wait, I did. I killed a guy!" Newt was worried about killing a guy who was going to massacre a lot more people? Okay then…

"Yeah, but he deserved it. He was really mean to everyone." Shell piped up, still getting over the fact that she just saw someone die.

"And besides, Tali kinda helped because she helped with the force field." Syd added.

"We all killed him." Rina corrected everyone. "But that doesn't matter now that he's dead. What I want to know is what are you all doing here? And how did you get powers?" She pointed accusingly at Newt and Tali. I find it funny that she didn't trust her own kids.

"You saw nothing." Jake tried to tell Iggy and Rina in that one way that makes you think he was made of ice. They didn't buy it.

"We're not stupid. Of course we saw." Iggy disagreed.

"Cool it, Jake, we all know I'm the only one who can make them forget." Newt informed Jake.

"You have that power too? What is this world coming to? How did you get your powers, why did you hide them from us, and why did you save us? And don't even try making us forget, because apparently you don't want us dead, which is your only other option if you don't want to tell us! We. Want. ANSWERS!" Rina snapped. Woah, I think maybe that fight was a bit too much for her.

"I know you're upset, Rina, but-" Tali tried to calm her parents, but Rina interrupted.

"Don't even think about sweet-talking your way out of this, young lady! We want answers, and we want to know everything!"

"Fine, then, let's review what you already know." Newt smirked, and I smirked along with him. That was uncanny!

"What's so funny?" Iggy asked.

"Nothing."

"It's something." Rina was still fuming.

"Well, it's just that when you called Tali 'young lady' and said all that other stuff you sounded just like the you we know." Newt referred to Rina's latest speech.

"And what me do you know?" Rina looked a little lost. Man, I hoped we got to tell her this time, I know we told Uncle Matt already but I really really really wanted to have one of our parents know!

"To answer that you'd have to know who we are." Tali said.

"Well then tell us! Who _are_ you?"

**You know what? I think you know what happens from here. I'm not gonna do the next part, there's not enough interesting stuff that I can add in there. I'll do a quick recap at the beginning of the next chapter though, just because there are a few things worth mentioning.**

**You guys have been completely wonderful with the whole I-don't-update-a-lot thing, I am SO sorry, and please review!**

**Hehehe, longest chapter ever! Almost 12,000 words! Man I'm weird.**

**Remember, read the story Green.Winged.Mistress and I are writing!**


	11. They Know

**Hello faithful readers! I made a vow to myself to update before it became a month (thanks to certain readers who have pointed out that my lack of updates means my popularity is slipping) so here goes. I better make this a quick chapter, I need to work on my story with coffeelover369 next.**

**I'd like to thank the three people, Green.Winged.Mistress, WingsOfDestiny27, and Evil Angel of DOOM, who reviewed chapter ten, and also S.L. Michaels for reviewing chapters eight and nine. There weren't a lot of reviewers, so everyone gets TWO brownies as a reward, and I swear these are real brownies, I'm looking at them cooling on the kitchen counter right now!**

**Note: After this chapter, it's entirely new content. Those who have stuck with me to this point will now be rewarded with surprises and never-before-seen-as-far-as-I-know content. Great, huh:D**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson, I may not own your stuff, but I own my characters and this plot, and maybe I'll make so much money from my Flock that I'll BUY OUT your Flock and make Max go to an insane asylum and have Fang and Iggy- (looks at all the freaked out Max Ride fans) Okay, moving on…**

**Chapter 11: They Know**

**POV Tali**

I still doubted that we should have told both mom AND dad who we were and not erased their memory. Mom always told us that we were supposed to save them, erase their memories, and then she was supposed to ask later! But Newt just had to send Syd, Shell, and Zak's thoughts into my head, all of which were begging me to let them spill the beans. I allowed it out of pity. They needed to have one set of parents to know!

Now it was time for mom and dad to get married, and the boring priest guy (which confused me because none of our family was religious) from last time was here to bore us to sleep. The twins made me wear heels, and I was about to ditch them and change into flats so I didn't have to stand for hours on end in those pointy traps of doom, but something else distracted me entirely.

"Tell Iggy I said yes, okay?" Mom told Newt suddenly. They did this all the time at home, so Newt must have been talking to her in his mind. What did he say now? He almost spilled too much when he was talking with dad!

"Okay, I will. Thanks Rina!" Newt waved to mom and disappeared down the hallway.

"What did you say?" I dragged mom's attention to me.

"I said yes to him and Kyle being ring bearers. We don't have one anyways." Mom informed me. That's it?? I thought he was going to tell her some big intimate secret about what she was supposed to do in the future or something!

"Oh, okay." Maybe if I acted uninterested she'd tell me more.

"And I also said you could be a bridesmaid." Bingo! Wait, what? How did Newt know I wanted to be a bridesmaid? I know, I know, I haven't mentioned it a lot, but I wanted to have a bigger part in mom and dad's wedding than just being singing while they mingled with guests and all.

"Huh? How'd you know?"

"Let's just say Newt is a very good brother. Now could you hold still a moment? It's hard to get you in a dress when you're moving." I froze, but for a reason other than mom's instruction. NEWT told mom I wanted to be a bridesmaid? After everything I said to him, after all the times he messed with me? Wow. Before I could blink I was in a blue and white dress similar to Aunt Nudge and Aunt Angel's, which felt much better than the itchy servant's dress Mr. Denton provided all the servants with.

"Thanks." I gave mom a huge hug, mainly so she couldn't see the tears coming to my eyes. Yes, that sounded completely corny, but I just didn't think Newt capable of such a…dare I say it, _noble_ act.

"No prob, kiddo. You might want to thank your brother, though." She stroked my hair and I squeezed her harder. Mom knew how to be a mom even though I wasn't supposed to exist yet!

**Later**

I could swear mom was talking with Newt in her mind again. Max just finished cantering down the aisle after me, and everyone was turning around to look at mom, only there was no mom. The curtains moved just a bit, and nervous waves were blasting from that area, so mom must be looking out at the people and feeling scared stiff. I looked through the corner of my eye to see Jake- no, bad Tali, even if he loves you too you have to pretend he doesn't. Newt was next to him and staring intently at where mom was supposed to emerge with that face that meant he was transmitting thoughts.

Mom finally came out, and everyone began the cooing over how pretty she was. She grew confidence with every step, and all was forgotten once she got a look at dad. Newt strained to keep the disgusted look off his face from the brain waves he was probably getting.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join-" The priest guy started, but forgot dad's name. Jeez, how can someone so old have so little memory?

"Iggy." Dad informed him, and grandma and grandpa (the ones on dad's side of the family) scowled because he didn't say his name was James. Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank just smiled. I think I know whose side of the family I like more.

"Rina." Mom added.

"Very well, Iggy and Rina in holy matrimony. Crazy kids with such strange names, odder than those Max and Fang kids." You know a man is senile when he talks to himself. Because mom gave me new shoes with the new dress, I was actually going to sit through the boring poems and lectures and stuff, but I looked over to Zak to see how he was holding up, and he was lying down to fall asleep! Jake and Newt (mainly Newt) looked like they were going through torture, and when I looked to my right, Syd and Shell were silently begging me to do something. At the third poem, I fast-forwarded the priest, and everyone either laughed or looked confused (mainly laughed since Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank invited some genies).

"Nice touch!" Dad laughed and congratulated mom.

"Uh, I'm not doing this." Mom corrected him.

"What? Who then?" They started looking around at the audience, and I laughed with the rest of the crowd, feeling completely at ease. My parents did look pretty confused, though, so I called Newt in my mind.

"_Newt?_"

"_This is your doing, right Tali_" Newt responded almost instantly.

"_It's the least I can do after you made me a bridesmaid_."

"_Oh, right, that._" Newt bit his lip. "_This stays between you, me, and mom. Now if you'll excuse me…__incoming message from Tali. Do you accept?_" I knew he was talking to mom by this point.

"_Hi Newt. Wouldn't I be able to talk to her myself?_" Mom asked him, and I decided to let Newt tell her since I didn't know too much about reading minds.

"_No, actually, we need to keep our minds blocked for Aunt Angel and Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank and all those genies who don't know us but could probably figure it out, so you can only talk if I connect you._"

"_Fine then, yes, connect us please._"

"_Hi mom!_" I greeted her instantly, still laughing at the confused looks on the human's faces and the happy emotions I was getting from the genies.

"_You're the one who's speeding him up, aren't you?_"

"_Is it that obvious?_"

"_No, I'm just guessing here._"

"_Come on mom, you need it! Everyone was getting so bored, Zak was actually lying down on the floor to go to sleep! No one wants to sit through this._"

"_Do I sound like I'm mad? Good call!_" Wow, mom's a lot more laid back when she's not a parent. It scared me a little that now I was the responsible one. Dad caught mom's attention, and I realized that I should be slowing the priest guy down by now, so I decreased his speed, and he began the vows.

"Do you, Iggy…"

"Griffiths." Dad told him, while his parents smiled. I don't get them, why would they want to have their son be human instead of a hybrid? Dad needs different parents.

"Take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" I made the guy stop there so he didn't ramble on about "in sickness and in health" and what Newt would call "all that crap".

"I do."

"Do you, Rina…"

"Bailey."

"Take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss." And kiss they did. Newt was pretending to choke and make Zak laugh, but I ignored him, immature twin of mine. Syd and Shell were witnessing it in awe, and Jake just looked away (how did that boy get to be such a good actor?). Dad announced the reception, and the six of us almost ran up the stairs. I didn't want to be late because Jake and Newt weren't going to sing the first song this time.

**POV Newt (A/N I actually wrote this a long time ago so you all can see how much my writing has changed. Not really, but it might look different, just a warning)**

"_I can live with that._" Mom sounded pretty content to forget about us and leaned on dad. Who wouldn't be happy to forget that they had kids? It's gotta be pretty awkward finally knowing where we came from. I ignored them (no way was I going to listen to those mushy thoughts!), strummed along on base as Tali sang Keep Holding On, and scanned the crowd.

Oh look, both the grandparents are meeting! Dad's parents looked kinda stiff and uncomfy as Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank made jokes and "got aquatinted" as they call it. I think Grandpa Frank was telling dad's mom's fortune or something like that, and she was seriously freaked out. Something about "_how could he know I was deciding on that?_" They'll find out sooner or later about the superpowers, I guess.

Hey, there's Uncle Matt and Aunt Gina! Aunt Gina was trying to get Uncle Matt to stop eating, to no use, of course. What's wrong with eating so much? I ate that much at home and mom never complained! A part of me wished I could talk with Uncle Matt just to tell him how the fight went.

Sam? Was that Sam in the corner? What was he doing here? Oh, right, he worked here for a while. And was he eyeing Laura? Excellent! Those were Maddy's parents, and if they stuck around for a while, maybe I could talk with them, maybe do a bit of mind-control so they knew what they had to do. But then again, Tali would never let me do that, considering I made her tell mom and dad who we were instead of waiting for mom to ask.

Okay, I better see if everything's going good with our parents, now that I remembered. Lemme see, Max and Fang? Check. They should probably make Jake in a few days or so, according to their thoughts. Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy? Check. Uncle Gazzy was thinking about asking Aunt Nudge sometime tonight. I think that's what's supposed to happen. Aunt Angel? Not much to check, but check. She looked happy just feeding Total some of those little cocktail hot dogs.

Okay, so everything was going smoothly for the people of the past. But I had my own little plan for my friends. Jake and Tali were always trying to deny that they liked each other, even though they DID admit it and all, so now I was going to try to get them to show it publicly. But to do that I'd need some help. When Keep Holding On ended, we got offstage for the best man to make the toast. I followed Syd and Shell as they got some glasses of juice.

"Tara, Skye?" I asked them. Stupid fake names, I'm never going to get used to them!

"Yeah?" they answered at the same time.

"Got a mission for ya."

"Can it wait?" Syd complained.

"We're thirsty." Shell added.

"We're getting Kyle and Demi to dance." I think that ought to change their minds.

"Let's do it!" Easy, only too easy if you talk about the right thing. But their attention turned as their dad took the stage. What the? Fang was going to make the toast? Sure enough, he cleared his throat and…

"Can I have some more of that shrimp stuff?" Everyone started laughing, me included. All that tension for nothing! Uncle Gazzy came up with a plate of shrimp for him and took the stage. I guess he's the one who's going to make the toast, I mean dad had two best men for a reason!

"Okay, thanks Fang. I'm not too good at making speeches, but I just want to say one thing before I get to the point." He paused. Either he was doing it for the dramatic effect, or he was _really_ not sure whether or not he should do this. Then he finally spoke. "Nudge?"

Aunt Nudge straightened up from the head table, blushing suddenly. "Yeah?" I thought I saw her mouth form that word.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Yup, this is the time. Aunt Nudge's blush got even deeper, and Aunt Angel beamed at her. "_Go for it!_" was the thought she sent to Aunt Nudge. Max, Fang, mom, and dad just looked stunned (okay, not Fang so much). It was unexpected for them, I'll admit.

"Okay, I'll be your girlfriend." Aunt Nudge half shouted up to the stage so Uncle Gazzy could hear her. He grinned this huge grin, and then he recollected himself and got to the toast.

"Here's to Iggy and Rina." He held up a glass of cider to mom and dad's direction, and we all followed suit and drank. "Okay, now that that's over, you guys can continue playing." He wiped his mouth and told us as he hopped off the stage. Syd and Shell gave me a look, still remembering the plan I was going to do.

"Go up, do your thing, and I'll explain during." I muttered when they followed me to the stage. We took our instruments, microphones, and laptop (Syd does the technical stuff, remember?) and started the first few notes to Why Not, Remix 2005. I think this was Hilary Duff, and I never heard Tali try one of her songs, so where's my voice recorder?

"You act like you don't know me when you see me on the street.

Making like I turn you off, when I know you think I'm sweet.

It don't have to be like that, I guess you're insecure.

If you say what's on your mind, I might answer sure.

So walk a little slower and I'll try and catch your eye.

Sometimes it's so hard to see the good things passing by.

There may never be a sign, no flashing neon light

Telling you to make your move when the time is right.

So why not

Take a crazy chance?

Why not

Do a crazy dance?

If you loose a moment

You might loose a lot

So why not?

Why not?" Wow, those lyrics were only too perfect for the occasion. But I'll only say this about Tali's singing. She can't sing anything horribly! Maybe I should dare her to sing some Linkin Park, maybe she won't do that as well since it's sung by boys. But back to business, while Tali was singing I started thinking and connecting Syd and Shell's minds to my mind. I gained a bit more control so I could think while I was playing, lucky me. And since this is such a complicated conversation to follow because we didn't use names, I'm going to make this easier for you and just say who's saying everything.

Me: "_Okay, Syd, Shell, here's the plan._"

Shell: "_Can Zak do this too?_"

Me: "_Uh, this is different from you. Why Zak?_"

Syd: "_Yeah Shell, how come?_"

Shell: "_I dunno, I just think we could use some backup. This is Jake and Tali we're talking about!_"

Me: "_Fine, fine. Zak?_"

Zak: "_Huh? Are we blowing something up? We haven't since we saved your parents, so we should blow something up for a finale! Tali, can we? It'd be so cool, we could do it like right now if we-_"

Me: "_Cut it out Zak. No, we're not blowing anything up, and Tali isn't here. Me, Syd, and Shell-_"

Syd, Shell: "_Hi!_"

Me: "_Want to get Jake and Tali to dance together, and I've got a plan, so shut up and listen if you want to work with us, okay?_"

Syd, Shell: "_Someone's a little grouchy now._"

Zak: "_Yeah, lighten up. Sure, I want to help, I mean they've had it coming for a while now, so let's get them to do it! What's the plan? I bet Tali thinks she's going to trip, and she probably will!_"

Me: "_Thank god, he speaks so little! Look, I just want this to work. We know Jake and Tali secretly want to get together, but they're chicken, so they just try to hide it._"

Zak: "_But I'll take you up on that bet since we haven't done one in so long…_"

Me: "_Alright, I'll do it, one dollar to you if Tali trips, one to me if she doesn't. But the fact still stands that Jake and Tali are trying to hide that they like each other._"

Syd: "_Yeah, and they suck at it._"

Shell: "_Look at Jake!_" We all turned towards Jake, remembering just in time that he's got a small solo before Tali continues singing. But Jake didn't look like he was preparing for his solo. He was staring at Tali! I nudged him just as his part came up, and he broke out of his trance and strummed a few strings. Tali took the time to gaze at Jake before she began singing again.

"You'll never get to heaven, or even to L.A

If you don't believe there's a way!" That last note was pretty impressive, impressive enough to make Jake stare at her some more while he absentmindedly played the guitar.

Me: "_There we go. They completely need each other but they won't show it, especially in front of each other, so we're going to fix that! And here's the plan._" It took me three songs (Kiss the Girl by Ashley Tisdale, Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne, and Spinnin' Around by Jump5, in case you're interested) to explain my little plan to them. Would have been one, maybe two, but Syd and Shell needed to go through it a few times before they got it, and Zak wouldn't stop asking questions. But once they finally understood we waited until our break (when we were allowed to get drinks and some food and stuff and other people did karaoke, which was Aunt Angel's idea, for the record) to get the plot started. I approached Jake as he was heading for the snack table.

"Hey man." Crap, he didn't even see me coming, I made sure of it!

"Dude, how do you _do_ that?"

Jake shrugged. "I dunno, I just feel your footsteps and hear you breathing. What's up?"

"Walk with me." I steered him from the refreshments, past Syd, Shell, and Tali (whom I winked at), and over to a corner with no one occupying it. Once I was sure no one could hear us use our real names, I pinned Jake to the wall.

"What's up?" Jake's eyes widened a bit and I think his eyebrow twitched upward, so he was both surprised and curious.

"Saw you staring at Tali when you were supposed to do your solo."

"So?"

"So how come you were?"

"You know that already, mind reader." Sure, I knew he had a crush on Tali, but why wouldn't he admit it?

"Admit it to the rest of the world then."

"You're insane, you know that?" He lunged for the snack table before Uncle Matt stole everything, but I kept him close to the wall.

"Say it."

"With the chance of someone hearing? Never."

"_Say_ it."

"I won't say it and you know it."

"Then don't say it." This time his eyebrow arched up, so he was surprised by my "sudden change of heart" as he thought it was.

"Why not?" His tone was practically daring me to explain, but I had to stick to the plan, so I just answered with another question.

"Do you want me to change my mind?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem with a change of heart?"

"Dude, I've known you since you were born. You don't change your mind for no reason."

"Your point being?"

"What's the reason?"

"I said you didn't have to _say_ it."

"Huh?" Jake was too busy trying to figure out my hint that he didn't notice that I was navigating him towards the dance floor, where Syd and Shell were directing Tali about now.

"Well there are other ways of saying it than words."

"And you mean to say…?"

"Think about it. You're in a ballroom. Music. People dancing. My sister's just sitting there sipping water. She could be dancing. And she can't do it alone." Jake's eyes widened at the word "alone" and swept around me and towards the door.

"No!"

"C'mon man, why not?"

"I don't dance, and I won't even _try_ in front of her."

"So? She doesn't know either, and she's as clumsy as Rina, so you're even!"

"I. Don't. Dance. Let go!" I clamped a hand on his arm and rooted myself to the floor so Jake couldn't go anywhere.

"Fine. I'll find another boy to dance with my sister." Jake's eyes widened a centimeter, even though he tried to keep them from expanding.

"You wouldn't."

"Hey, she needs someone, otherwise she's just going to camouflage against the walls like she's been doing every waking moment of her public life. So I may as well let her dance with you, you both know each other and you like each other well enough." Better ease him into this.

"Fine. Let her dance with someone else. I can't dance." he said through gritted teeth. It must be killing him to say that.

"Now why would I do that? Why won't you? You're so much better than some weird guy who's going to dace with a complete stranger for whatever reason."

"I don't dance. And she wouldn't want to."

"No, she has to dance with you. It's like tradition. You're the ring bearer, and she's a bridesmaid. You have to dance. And think of how lucky you are, I mean past ring bearers had to dance with girls they didn't like or even know, and you get to dance with Tali!"

"You're a ring bearer too, you idiot, you can dance with her too!" Jake was getting pretty mad at me.

"We're siblings. Come on, Jake. What more could you ask for?"

"A guarantee that I won't goof?"

"That would be Tali's calling. Let's go ask her, shall we?" I didn't even wait for an answer before I started (literally) dragging him to Tali, who was arguing with Syd, Shell, and Zak about something.

**POV Zak (A/N this takes place during Jake and Newt's talk)**

Finally, we're doing something to get Jake and Tali to dance! I mean, they've had it coming for a while now, and I get to help! Syd, Shell, and I started towards Tali, who was getting some more orange juice from the refreshments table.

"Remember Taylor, you can talk only to give reasons." Syd reminded me.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Jeez, I don't talk that much! I just say whatever comes to my mind, which happens to be a lot, I mean it's not my fault mom was the one who taught me how to talk, if dad taught me I'd probably be kinda quiet, but I don't like being quiet because then I can't express my feelings as much because my mouth would be-" Shell covered my mouth and Syd glared at me. It looked kinda like she was trying not to say "told ya" but she didn't want to talk. How can she not want to talk?

"Hey Demi." Syd and Shell greeted Tali at the same time.

"Don't you get anything besides orange juice?" I asked.

"Nice to see you too, Taylor. What's up?" Tali asked Syd and Shell.

"Are you going to be here the entire karaoke time?" they asked.

"Uh…yeah, why?"

"Well wouldn't you rather do something else?"

"Well I already sing, so there's not anything else to do unless I steal the karaoke machine."

"But Demi…" Syd began.

"You forgot something." Shell included.

"Dancing!" They finished together.

"Dancing? You know I'm too clumsy for dancing." She said the last word in disgust.

"So is your mom but she did it!" I blurted out before Syd and Shell could keep me from talking. Finally I can speak! It was death to keep my mouth closed for so long.

"What he said. You could dance!" Syd explained, like it needed any explaining.

"But all this dancing is either jumping up and down or slow-dancing. And I'd need a partner for both!" Tali was already freaking out at the idea of dancing with some random guy and tripping all over him.

"Well then get a partner!" I exclaimed.

"And exactly who do you suggest I dance with?" Now she was skeptical, like "yeah, right, I'll never get a partner, but nice try".

"Kyle." All three of us said at the same time. Tali's eyes widened by about a football field.

"You are SO kidding."

"No we aren't! You should, you really should, you'd have so much fun and it'd be something to do besides hang out in the shadows like you always do, I mean that's no fun if you watch everyone have a good time and you don't get to have a good time yourself but if you dance with him you'd be having fun and you wouldn't have to have the torture of just watching some girl eye him up and down and flirt with him and he'd reject her as always and you'd be happy but you'd still want to be the one flirting with him if it weren't for that rejection thing and why would you be so nervous about him rejecting you? He likes- n' frrm!" I tried to say "no fair" but that was kinda hard because Syd and Shell covered my mouth right before I was about to say that Jake likes her. That isn't fair, I should be allowed to finish my sentence!

"Come on, why not?" Syd asked, and Shell nodded ferociously. I shook my head away from their hands and encouraged her.

"Do it, do it, do it!"

"What makes you think he's going to come up and ask me?" Tali eyed the crowd and picked out Jake with no problem. He was in the corner, talking with Newt, and he looked pretty ticked. I wonder why? Is Newt messing with his mind again?

"We just know, okay?" Shell told her.

"Just go up and ask him, it's so easy!" Syd used her hands to tell me to get the backup behind her back, and I trooped through the crowd. Lessee, where would a couple be at their reception? Well, since they don't like the crowds they're probably at the edges of the room. Yup, they're over at the doorway! I think I came just in time too, seeing as they were cornered by Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths (wait, wouldn't Aunt Rina and Uncle Iggy be Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths too?) and being bombarded by all sorts of awkward questions. I pulled on Rina's wedding dress, and she looked down.

"Yes, Taylor?"

"Can you two help us really quick?" Rina and Iggy nodded as soon as I finished talking, excused themselves (something like "we'll be right back to answer your question") from Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths, and followed me through the crowds.

"What's up?" Iggy asked me as soon as we were out of hearing distance.

"How much do you love your daughter?" I demanded. They just looked at each other.

"I thought we were being saved from the awkward questions." Rina commented.

"Okay, okay, bad way to start this. But we're bored because everything is going the way it should be, so now we're going to try and get Tali and Jake to dance but they won't cooperate so you guys are plan B could you possibly help us get them to dance because they really like each other and they ought to be together since Jake keeps staring at Tali and Tali keeps staring at Jake when he's not staring at her and they keep missing each other and they try to act all casual around each other so Tali thinks Jake doesn't like her in that way and Jake doesn't think Tali likes him in that way but they both really like each other and they don't see that the other likes them back so they should be happy together but they won't be because they don't want to be embarrassed and…why aren't you stopping me?" I looked at them weird. This is possibly the first time in my life that no one stopped me from talking. No covering my mouth, no butting in with another comment, nothing!

"It works like this: you talk, we listen, we understand. Is this a surprise to you?" Iggy told me.

"Yeah, kinda. I've always been blocked from saying more at some point. But forget about that, will you help us get them to dance?" I gave them Bambi eyes (a little trick I learned from Aunt Angel), but I don't think it was that necessary because they already agreed.

"Is there a plan?" Rina asked.

"Yeah, Newt's got it, he can explain."

"Why did I not see that coming?" Iggy asked sarcastically. "Newt's got the plan, oh there's a surprise."

"You'd be surprised what your kids are capable of, I mean they always take charge and yet they're so cool and funny and all that. Okay, let's go find Newt." I pulled them from our little soundproof corner and over towards Newt before I realized that he was with Jake, and Jake would beat the crap out of both of us if he found out that Rina and Iggy were getting involved with this. So I just stood about ten feet away from them and said Newt's name over and over in my mind until he snapped back.

"_WHAT do you want? I'm working with Jake here, he's really hard to convince!_"

"_Yeah, I know, so is Tali, so Rina and Iggy are going to help because everyone's so stubborn. Can you explain to them?_"

"_Do it yourself, I told you four times what it was._"

"Okay, he's kinda busy with him, so I gotta tell you. I think the best thing you can do is convince her, like come in and say something like "what's going on?" and she'll tell you some protesting thing or a lie and could you help us convince her? When worst comes to worse you could just help us push her in his direction."

"How come you keep saying him and her instead of using their names?" Iggy asked me.

"I can't remember which names to call them in public. Will you help?"

"Sure." They both said at the same time. Who said they weren't soul mates? I mean, they always know what the other's going to say.

"Okay, you stand over there, and when I start talking could you come over and just kinda ad-lib it or something because I just don't feel like making a plan and I don't have any ideas anyways?" They nodded, and I went over to see how everyone was doing. Okay, maybe not so well! Tali was trying to avoid Syd and Shell at all costs and Syd and Shell were following her around and trying to convince her to dance with Jake. Shell sent me a meaningful look when I caught up to them.

"No, I will NOT do it, and there's no point in arguing!" Tali was whining.

"You know you want to, I mean you know he likes you! Okay, maybe you don't since you keep missing when he's looking at you and you don't see how happy he is when he's around you and-" I would have been really mad at whoever interrupted me, except it was the reinforcements coming to provide backup.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Rina asked.

"They want ME to dance with HIM!" Tali pointed at Jake in the other corner, who looked just about as upset as her.

"What? How come?" Iggy asked in just the right tone, plenty of concern and interest but not enough to show that something was up. Must be all that lying about himself when he was a teenager.

"Some theory about me liking him, which I so do not!"

"Hmm. Maybe you should try it. How bad could it possibly be?" Rina asked. She sounded a lot like her in the future that way, like she was just suggesting that Tali take Spanish class because more people speak the language.

"Catastrophic. I can't dance, and I won't try in front of all those people. And I'll never even think about it in front of him!"

"You know what? I've got something to show you. Might change your mind." Iggy told her. Tali cocked her head. "Just walk in front of us so you have a better view and we'll show you." She consented, and everyone gave Iggy weird looks.

"_Trust him, okay?_" Rina sent his thought to all of us, so we just nodded and followed Iggy and Tali. He stopped at right about the middle of the dance floor, and right at the last second he and Rina both pushed Tali about ten feet from us, and Newt was pushing Jake in the opposite direction at the exact same time, and they COLLIDED! It was like "CRASH" and they both fell back at the same time and they both rubbed their heads and then stared at each other like they were imagining it and then they kinda got lost in each other's eyes and then they kinda forgot that we were watching and they were right in the middle of a dance floor and then you'll never guess what happened, I didn't think it possible, Jake actually-

"Hey, wanna dance?" He did that! He asked her to dance! I never thought it would happen, like ever.

"Okay." Jake stood, held out a hand to Tali, and got her on her feet. It was a slow song so they did a slow dance, and even though Tali said she couldn't, she was alright at it, and she didn't seem to care anyways because Jake was looking at her and she was looking back.

"You're done now, go enjoy your wedding." Newt shooed his parents away. I bet he was going to videotape this so he could embarrass them later.

"But I don't want to talk to my parents!" Iggy moaned. "You want us to enjoy it? Make them leave."

"Can't, that's Tali, and she's a little busy at the moment. Rina could help you, though."

"Yeah, come with me and we'll talk strategy." Rina led him away to their table while I watched Newt's smile spread across his face. That was his diabolical smile, and there was one time when he said he was writing an acceptance speech for when he got the Nobel Prize, so I asked to see if he was doing it again.

"Are you working on your acceptance speech again?" I interrupted his thoughts, and he turned with that evil grin still on his face.

"Yeah, just putting on the final touches. And pay up, Tali isn't tripping." I growled and passed Newt some money for our little bet.

"Why would you write an acceptance speech because you got them together?" Syd and Shell said and nodded over to Jake and Tali, who were still staring vacantly at each other.

"Because the Nobel Peace Prize selection team is going to end up in front of this mansion, if I have anything to say about it." Newt was talking so calmly I froze up. If he doesn't have that joking tone then he's gotta be serious!

"Don't even think about it or we'll get your sister!" Syd and Shell blurted.

"Oh come on, blow up one wheel on their van when they drive near our place and that's all I'll do, I swear!" Newt went on, still acting as serious as ever. He couldn't blow up the wheel, that's a bad thing!

"Dylan?" I barely heard someone say that name.

"Okay, maybe I might be outside when it happens." He talked on.

"Dylan…"

"And sure, I could help them out of the car, maybe ask if they're okay, sound like I care, and if they don't ask for my story I could-"

"DYLAN!" Oh yeah, Newt's fake name is Dylan! And mom and dad were right behind Newt! I wanted to wave at them and give them a big hug, but they didn't know yet, which was sad because Newt and Tali's parents got to know.

"WHAT?" Newt turned around and saw mom and dad looking at him.

"Are you scaring them?" Mom asked. I almost laughed because she sounded just like when she was asking Newt if he was telling us what hara kiri was.

"Nah, I was only messing with them. Why, are you messing with me?"

"Well, they look pretty freaked."

"Actually, freaking out kids is good for them. Builds character and all that."

"Well, if you're really sure. And Angel told me to tell you that you'll be up in a few minutes, so get Demi and Kyle and get going. Where are they, anyways? I haven't seen them in a while and- there they are!" Aunt Nudge scanned the crowd and then squealed. "They're dancing together, oh that's so cute! How did they get to dance together, I mean Demi's always seemed preoccupied with- OH, she was trying to avoid looking at Kyle! And Kyle doesn't talk much, I mean who wouldn't like a guy who doesn't talk much? Oh that's so cute, I need that camera I saw Rina make earlier, c'mon Gazzy, we gotta go find it!" Mom saw Jake and Tali dancing and pulled Uncle Gazzy away to go find the camera which we wanted to find first, but we were busy at the moment. Newt shrugged at me, Syd, and Shell when we looked at him.

"Better go get Romeo and Juliet and get playing." Newt was about to take us to round up Jake and Tali so they'd stop looking like they wanted to make goo goo eyes at each other, but then a white bird with an envelope in its mouth flew through the window! And I mean it went through, as in when it was closed the bird went through it and didn't break anything. Why can't I do that?

"Come on, we need to go." Tali blushed from her dance with Jake as she pulled on Newt and Jake took Syd and Shell's hands. "Before they read it. NOW." I gaped when I saw Tali looking so shocked. This was the letter where the genie people were gonna ask Iggy and Rina to have Newt and Tali so they could be genies too! I bet they wouldn't be too happy to find out that Newt and Tali were forced to be their kids, and they'd get all mad at us and want us to tell them stuff about the future, which we couldn't have happen. Tali latched onto my hand and we fought through the crowd gathering around mom and dad, but Tali turned to Newt before we could leave the room.

"No, Newt, you need to stay, make sure everything's safe for us. Give us a notice when it's clear, okay?" Tali asked frantically. Newt nodded rapidly and silently, then the rest of us fled through the halls so fast I would have gotten lost if Tali let go of me. That and we were running in dress clothes, which wouldn't exactly boost our speed, so it took a slower time than usual before we got to our destination, the broom closet by the front door.

"Why did we come HERE?" I asked in disgust. Why couldn't we go to our bedroom and wait there? At least there was food we could eat up there!

"Because mom and dad would know we hid there." Tali responded quickly and ushered me in after Syd, Shell, and Jake.

"But your mom's a genie, so she'd know anyways." I prompted Tali, and she blinked.

"Not anymore." Oh, so she blocked our transmissions.

"Tali?" Shell squeaked out, squished next to a mop.

"Yes sweetie?" Tali sighed as she sat on a bucket.

"Why are we hiding from your parents?"

"Because they're going to get mad at us. _Really_ mad at us. Wouldn't you if you found out you were going to be forced by someone you hated to have children you weren't sure you even wanted to have?" I guess Tali made a little sense.

"And Tali?" Syd asked one more question for Shell because she was too busy imagining Iggy and Rina being mad at us.

"Hm?" Tali massaged her temples like she always did when she was in a stressful situation.

"Will our moms and dads be mad with us when they find out we've been keeping secrets from them?" I swallowed a lump in my throat. They were right, what if my mom and dad wished they didn't have me? What if I wasn't what they expected? Then they'd raise me hating me and trying to make me different. Or they might not adopt me at all, then where would I be? I whimpered at the thought, and Tali ruffled my hair.

"No, of course they won't." She assured us. "They'll be glad that such talented and polite and sweet kids could be theirs. Take it from a fortune-" She cut herself off after that. "Newt needs us."

"Oh sure, we just got here and now we have to run all the way back!" I moaned, but no one heard me because Tali already poofed us outside the door and had us crouch against the wall.

"Everyone be quiet and watch." Tali whispered. We obeyed and strained our ears to listen to Newt arguing with Iggy and Rina.

"Can't tell you. Gotta go, bye!" Newt tried to head for the door, but Iggy grabbed his wrist with his really strong grip. I wanted to yell over to Newt that he had super strength and could break free, but Tali did tell us to be quiet...

"Do you mean go as in leave the room, or go as in _go_?" Iggy asked. Wow, if my dad did that when I told him that'd make me so happy! He wanted Newt to stay, which was really nice.

"I don't know, I just don't know, I only need to get out of here so you don't ask!" Newt said in a voice so low it was hard to understand him. Tali chose this time to open the doors and step in and save her brother from her parents.

"Let him go, he wouldn't tell you even if he wanted to." Tali interrupted the three of them and together with me and Jake we got Iggy's hands off of Newt's wrist. "Don't get mad at us, mom, we just didn't think you should know ahead of time. Everyone would expect you to be mad, so why make you fake it? And dad, glad you're wondering where we're going to go, but seriously, go ahead and not care about us, okay? In all technicalities we aren't even born yet." Tali continued and made them much calmer. I could have sworn she was using her emotion-controlling powers to make them feel better.

"Uh, Demi?" Aww dang it, was that really Max? I spun around to match the face with the voice, and the entire Flock was looking at us weird. Even Total was raising a furry eyebrow, which I would have laughed at if this wasn't what Tali calls a crisis. "Why did you just call Iggy and Rina mom and dad?" Max asked.

"You don't look like- oh, wait, you do actually look a bit like Rina, Demi! And Newt looks like a clone of Iggy, I wonder why that is? But that would be like impossible, it's gotta be a coincidence or something, I mean what are the odds that two kids could look like this one couple? And even then they'd need a time machine to get back and actually call them mom and dad when they weren't even born yet, unless Rina and Iggy actually did something like that, but they haven't even known each other that long it's been what, five years now, well they're thirteen so that's way off but then again if they're Rina and Iggy's they'd have to have powers too and one of those powers could be time…travel…so who are you anyways?" Mom figured out things just by talking, and for once I wanted to cover her mouth just so she wouldn't get so far in the game.

"And while you're at it, who are they?" Aunt Angel nodded to me, Jake, Syd, and Shell. We exchanged looks with Iggy and Rina. As of now, we were officially busted.

**Once more, as of now, this is ENTIRELY new material!! Sorry for the cliffy, once again, but if I want to post this tonight I need to wrap it up like NOW. No free preview, sorry, but two chapters after this one, something extremely bad is going to happen. Sorry to all the people I was supposed to be emailing and instead used the time to update…crap, I shouldn't be rambling like this, I gotta post!**

**I WILL LOVE YOU ALL IF YOU REVIEW!!!!!**


	12. Divide and Conquer

**Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while, real life gets so annoying. In school I have a lovely little love triangle going on, and then at home there's so much to do (namely cleaning, watching ferrets, and errands), and when I'm on the computer I have like a hundred emails and fifteen people to talk to, and I love you guys too much to stop talking, so there's than. Long story short, I've been busy. Oh, plus I'm writing an original work (using my OCs) that I want to publish eventually. Well, let's get to it then. Everything beyond last chapter is new!**

**Muchos, **_**muchos**_** gracias to Green.Winged.Mistress (here it is, and we shall talk tomorrow!), DigiNinMon, MaxRideNut, Bubble Blower (SO sorry I forgot to mention you last chapter, you sent me an email to review), and WingsOfDestiny27 (I'm updating the bloody chapter, happy?) for the reviews and various emails, they really encourage me. I really don't know what else to say, I think no matter what I say I'll have said it before. But you do know I appreciate them, right?**

**Disclaimer: (hears sirens) See, uh, here's the thing, I stole the plans from James Patterson, but he called the cops and- (gun shots are heard, roughdiamond5 runs into an alley) he's not too happy.**

**Police Guy: Come out of the alley with your hands up!**

**Roughdiamond5: (drops plans for Maximum Ride, holds up hands)**

**Police Guy: Now give the plans over to us.**

**Roughdiamond5: Dude, my hands are up. I can't!**

**Police Guy: Right…**

**Roughdiamond5: (nudges plans to police guy with foot) There, ya happy? I'm a die-hard fan, but try as I might, I still don't own Maximum Ride.**

**Police Guy: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time, that's a warning, kid.**

**James Patterson: (comes out of police car) They're my plans!**

**Roughdiamond5: James Patterson! (faints)**

**Chapter 12: Divide and Conquer**

**POV Tali**

"So who are you, anyways?" I couldn't believe Aunt Nudge could think of all that logic. Of course it would make sense that we could come into the past since we were Rina's kids! How did we forget to cover that??

"And while you're at it, who are they?" Aunt Angel fixed her head at Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak, who stared blankly back at her. This was exactly what our parents of the future had warned us against, and here we were, living the nightmare. The Flock stared at us, awaiting our answer. I snuck a glance over at mom and dad, who were staring them back.

"Now is neither the time nor the place." Mom finally announced, and I exhaled. "It's the reception, guys! Let's have a bit of fun." Uncle Gazzy fingered his collar in a way that suggested those tuxes were anything but fun.

"Rina, they could probably write a book about us, and you know that's too much info!" Max held her hand out to us like we were the servants again.

"And they saved you from Ari 2!" Aunt Angel blurted, and I knew at that moment that mom didn't have her defenses up. She concentrated, looking like she was trying to see through mom, then gasped. "No way! They're really…and Max and Fang…and he's my…?" She pointed to each of us in turn, and Zak waved.

"Don't tell them yet, we wanted to do that ourselves! In fact, let's tell you all after the wedding 'cause you wanna know so much! But you can't tell them yet, okay? It's gotta be a huge surprise!" Zak talked more to his aunt than anyone else, and she nodded eagerly. After several long looks, the rest of our family gradually walked away.

"Does that mean my guess was close?" Aunt Nudge asked Uncle Gazzy as they turned their backs to us. Once they were out of hearing distance, everyone swiveled over to Zak.

"Dude, we had it handled! Mom and I could erase their memories, and now they expect a full explanation!" Newt tried to keep his voice to a mild anger, but couldn't hold it in. Dad put a hand on his shoulder.

"So? We can still erase their memories later. I just wanted to get it out!" Zak grinned, unphased.

"But…" Someone peeped from my left, and Shell looked up at me. "Can we tell them anyways?"

"Not even Aunt Angel figured this out until now." Syd added, backing her sister up. "Can't we just see what happens? Rina can help us if we get in really big trouble."

"But it might already be big trouble." Mom interrupted. "Guys, we sent you over here to protect us, not ruin the future for us."

"And have six unknown stalkers haunting our past?" Dad raised an eyebrow. "You're so psychic, so what would happen if they leaked just a little bit of information and left afterwards?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, leave?" I cut in. "We need to stay here and make sure we grow up safely!"

"Do you see what mom has in her hand?" Newt jabbed a finger over to the white-and-gold paper that mom was still clutching. Of course, the order that mom had to have us. "After that thing showed up, we may as well have left then before they could kill me!"

"Sorry for that, by the way." Mom apologized. "You just never think of…"

"We get it." I smiled sympathetically.

"So what are we doing?" Jake got us back on track, and the six of us glanced uneasily at our relatives at the head table.

"They're not going to bite." Dad promised. "It's just that we lived hiding for so many years, you kinda need to be careful about these things."

"We knew that." Syd bit her lip. "But how are they going to look when we tell them who we are?"

"They might not believe us! Or maybe they'll be…uh…what's the word for not being what they expected?" Shell turned to me.

"Disappointed." I prompted, and she nodded in agreement.

"But guys!" Zak spoke up from behind us. "We've been here sooooo long, and we didn't have video games or good beds or school…which was actually a pretty good thing, but still, all we did was chores for our parents! Can't we just tell them like as a reward to ourselves? And it's not fair that Rina and Iggy get to know and their best friends don't, anyways. Who cares what they think of us? We don't have to lie to them if we do it! I hate being called Taylor!" Syd and Shell started to smile, silently agreeing.

"I don't really look like a Tara, do I?" Syd asked her sister.

"Maybe a little, but you're more like a Syd." Shell responded.

"Good speech, Zak." Newt patted our motivator on the back. "So who's in?"

"I call saying it!" Syd raised her hand. I think that was a yes.

**After the Reception (A/N Because seriously, who wants to read about a reception?)**

"Do I have to say it?" Syd asked at the door of Max's bedroom. She, Jake, and Shell were eying it anxiously, uncertain of what was going to happen behind the wood and paint.

"You volunteered." I told her. "Don't you want to stop lying?"

"Lying is starting to sound like a good idea about now." Shell said. "We can just have your parents know, I'm good with that."

"They don't know what will happen." Newt leaned over my shoulder to murmur.

"Jake, make Tali tell us what's going to happen!" Syd pleaded her older brother, a strange feat for someone so headstrong.

"Girls, there are some things you'll want, but they can't always be had." I put my hands on both their shoulders, Newt grabbed Jake's wrist, and Zak opened the door. Max and Fang were sitting on Max's bed and talking, but stopped abruptly when I smiled at them.

"You wanted an explanation, and we picked the three best candidates for your situation to tell it to you." Newt smirked, content that he didn't have to be the one to do this. "Have fun!" We pushed Jake, Syd, and Shell inside and shut the door before someone tried to break for it.

"My turn, right?" Zak was almost vibrating with all the excitement.

"Just try not to explode." I put a hand on his shoulder, but felt air a second later as he bolted off to knock on Aunt Nudge's door first.

"Nudge Nudge Nudge!" He called until she opened the door. "Need to see you in Gazzy's room, c'mon c'mon c'mon!" With that, he dragged her over to Uncle Gazzy's door.

"How is he so happy to do this and they aren't?" I indicated Max and Fang's room.

"He's a little kid and thinks everything is going to turn out perfectly." Newt rolled his eyes. "Now what?"

"I'm gonna visit Katie and James." I turned on my heel to walk out of the hall.

"No you're not." A voice echoed, and mom leaned on the door frame just like Newt did. "There are a few people I want you to meet."

"No." Newt's eyes widened, and he shook his head. "No, if dad doesn't like them then-"

"Sorry Newt, these are the rules of telling the truth. You have to put up with the relatives." Mom smiled a smile so evil I wondered if Newt could ever top it. His demonic nature made sense now.

"Which ones?" I breathed to my brother, praying it would be Grandpa Frank and Grandma Stella.

"Dad's side." He whimpered (and let me say that again for those of you who don't find that weird: _Newt whimpered_).

"Do we have to, mom?" I pleaded, but she only turned back into the room and called something to dad.

"It worked, Iggy! They're scared."

"Excellent." Dad emerged, happy to be back in his old clothes. "Let's go then, shall we?"

"Tali, you have to do something!" Newt spun me around and held me by the collar. "Teleport us somewhere else!" It was too late, because mom had already sent the four of us to dad's parent's house.

**POV Jake**

I wasn't scared, only paralyzed. Or maybe I really was scared. I couldn't really think after Newt grabbed me, but it was probably some trick of his so I wouldn't struggle. After Newt and Tali threw us in and slammed the door, there was a moment of silence. Mom and dad were just eyeing us down expectantly, and the look made me just a little more nervous. But if they were going to know that I was dad's son, I was going to have to look, act, and think like dad. I tried smothering everything into an indifference, but it was something I had only partially mastered, so I could still feel a twinge of sympathy for my little sisters.

"So…hi." Syd waved, her arm glued to her side. "Yeah, they told us to come here because we might be the best to tell you this."

"And what do you want to tell us?" Mom asked coldly. She probably thought we were spies from the School. No, wait, she couldn't think that. But in a second, dad had me wrestled on the floor while mom held Syd and Shell by their necks against the wall. "Are you giving our location away to the School?" So I was wrong. They did think that.

"We can kill you." Dad pressed my tangled arm harder, and I hissed. "We're years ahead of you."

"Dad, don't!" Shell choked, trying to keep him from breaking my arm. Both mom and dad's eyes widened, but they didn't let go.

"Dad?" Mom repeated.

"You're our dad!" Syd confirmed in a gasp, and directed her words to mom next. "And you're our mom! We wanted to tell you that!"

"I have to say, the School has some pathetic excuses." Mom snarled and tightened her grip. Shell squeaked. "Now why are you really here? Ari 2's henchmen?"

"Let them breathe!" I yelled. My parents couldn't choke my sisters just because they thought we were evil. As sweat from dad's heat gathered on my brow, I thought of what might be the only thing to help us. "Feel my back." Dad stared blankly at me. "Feel it!" Slowly, and careful not to let me go, dad moved his hand to a pressure point on my neck so I wouldn't escape. He retracted his fingers the moment he felt my feathers, yanking one of them out. I squeezed my eyes shut in mild pain, and he jumped off me.

"Look at this." Dad held my midnight black feather up to mom, whose grasp let go completely when she saw how similar mine was to his. Syd and Shell were turning purple by then, but I had picked myself up by then and held my arms out so they wouldn't pass out on the floor.

"What are you, experiments??" Mom backed away to give the twins some space.

"Sorta." Syd panted, holding her hand to her throat.

"Second generation." I filled in. "We never saw the School first-hand." Looking down at the girls, their faces were just turning to their normal colors, so I had to be the one to officially break the ice. "You're our parents." A silence longer than ever settled over us, if you didn't count Syd and Shell's wheezing. Mom gaped at us, trying to figure out if we looked enough like them to be theirs, and dad only sat on the bed, trying to figure it all out. Finally, dad elbowed mom.

"The twins look just like you." He muttered, breaking the silence.

"You really think so?" Shell exhaled, relieved that they believed us this time. "I always thought we looked a bit like Grandma."

"Dr. Martinez." I added so mom and dad understood. I didn't expect them to know who we were talking about when we said "grandma". At least, not yet.

"Oh sure, because Fang and I are going to have three kids named Kyle, Tara, and-" Mom said sarcastically. Knowing her, this was just a form of stress relief.

"There's another thing." Syd interrupted. "Those are our middle names. We're really Jake, Syd, and Shell." She pointed to us in the same fashion as mom. "And while we're at it, great job naming us. Everyone's confused in geography because the teacher talks about Sydney all the time." I raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement. Sarcasm would really help our case.

"Sarcasm." Fang breathed in an "I told you" tone. At least _he_ knew it just from looking at us.

"And you're here because…" Mom trailed off, looking at me to answer. Was this another test to see if I was related to dad? I didn't say anything so I wouldn't look like an idiot. After a few seconds of waiting, mom actually got down on her knees and hugged all three of us.

"Fang…we have kids!" She called over to dad, stroking Shell's hair. I became stone, waiting for her to get off me, and eventually she pulled away and examined me. "Sorry." I shrugged.

"He means it's okay." Syd translated.

"Wow mom, you haven't hugged us like that since we left!" Shell smiled.

"What do you mean?" Dad asked from behind us, not sure what to do.

"I get to tell it!" Syd regained her confidence now that she knew she was accepted. Mom and dad held onto her every word throughout the details, and with every word that was taken in, I felt like a pound had been lifted off my shoulders. After lying to my own parents for so long, it felt so good to reveal who we were.

**POV Zak**

"Just try not to explode." I hardly heard Tali's warning before I ran up to mom's door and started knocking. I had to tell mom and dad before Tali changed her mind and wouldn't let me tell it! Maybe if I didn't look any sort of nervous then she wouldn't consider how bad things could be.

"Nudge Nudge Nudge!" I yelled. Mom finally opened the door, having just changed into her regular clothes. How could something so easy take so long? "Need to see you in Gazzy's room, c'mon c'mon c'mon!" She just wasn't moving fast enough, so I dragged her over to dad's room to get it over with. And I remembered their names, too! Things were going my way today.

"What the-" Dad was tossing his tux on the floor when I ran in, pulling mom behind me. "What's that tux doing there on the floor? I thought I put it away."

"Tali's not here to yell at you so ignore it and sit down and listen!" I let go of mom's hand and pointed her towards the bed, where she sat hesitantly next to dad.

"Tali? Who's Tali?" Mom squinted, trying to think of someone she knew with that name.

"Oops, sorry, I kinda ruined it already. Tali is Demi's real name and my real name is Zak and Kyle and Tara and Skye's names are really Jake and Syd and Shell, and Dylan's name is Newt so please don't call me Taylor because that's my middle name and I really don't like it much." I was so thrilled to tell them who I was that it took mom and dad a few seconds to take it in.

"So why are you using fake names?" Dad finally asked.

"'Cause we gotta keep us a secret so then you don't know who we are. We gotta protect you from Ari 2 and the School and make sure things go right now so in the future everything's normal."

"But how would you know about the future? You're from this time, right? Ooh, was I right at the reception about Dylan and Demi- I mean Newt and what's-her-name-"

"Tali." I corrected mom.

"Yeah, Newt and Tali, are they related to Iggy and Rina?" Mom finished and waited eagerly. Dad looked excited himself, and he was about to find out everything about us, so I couldn't blame him.

"Ooh, that's my favorite part, see, mom, you were right when you were thinking that Newt and Tali could come back in time and visit us if they were related to Rina, and they really are related because Newt and Tali are Iggy and Rina's kids and Jake, Syd, and Shell are all siblings and Jake looks like Fang and Syd and Shell look like Max, so they're Max and Fang's kids and I'm your kid! Well, not biologically, I was adopted and we really don't know how that happened, but you guys named me and raised me so you're pretty much my parents, cool, huh?" Mom and dad's expressions froze in their happy faces as they thought it through.

"So…uh…you're our kid?" Mom only spoke five words, if you counted "uh" as a word. I thought she'd be happy. But Tali always said it would be hard for them to accept, so I gave them just a bit more time to let it in.

"So…yeah, I'm your kid. Oh, and before I forget, dad!" I pulled a wrinkled piece of paper from my pocket. After carrying it around for months and looking it over so many times I finally memorized it, I finally got to give it to him! "This is for you from future you, it's plans for a really big bomb that you're gonna learn about at your job at the bomb factory." Dad's eyebrows raised, and I don't think he heard anything after "really big bomb". The paper was out of my hands as fast as I could hold it out, and from the sounds I heard, he might have been drooling.

"How could you be…are you really our kid?" Mom looked away from the paper and turned to look for a resemblance. There actually was a resemblance because I had mom's skin but dad's hair and eyes.

"I don't know why we look alike, but we do." I smiled at her, which made her look even harder.

"You have Gazzy's smile!" She beamed after a second.

"Cool, huh?" I agreed. I don't know what Syd and Shell were so scared about. It was so much easier to let them know who we are than have them think we're weird stalkers.

**Later that night**

**POV Max (A/N It's been a while, I know, but I can't make the OCs tell this one. Sorry if they seem OOC, I'm just not too good at writing the real Flock)**

"Okay, you all know who our servants really are, right?" I announced to the rest of the Flock, who were all gathered around my room. Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel were talking animatedly to each other, Fang was sitting silently by my side, and Rina was nestled into Iggy's chest just like newlyweds should do.

"Yeah, and congratulations Max." Angel grinned at me. She had been in the movie room to get out of the kids' way, but she knew the details like they had told her themselves. In fact, Rina told her in her mind.

"Uh…thanks." I smiled back uneasily. Learning that you had three kids was a little weird to adjust to.

"Oops, sorry." She took it back.

"So you wanted us here because…?" Iggy raised an eyebrow with his hand in Rina's hair. Come to think of it, I didn't know why I wanted them there. Maybe I just needed to see if they thought this was as weird as I did.

"We do think it's weird, Max." Rina confirmed it for me. "Who wouldn't be creeped out to find out they were going to have kids?"

"What about that letter you got at the reception? Did that have to do with this?" Gazzy checked.

"You know, I bet it was congratulations. Didn't you defeat Ari 2? That deserves a bit of congratulations!" Nudge blurted. I couldn't believe it when I heard Ari 2 had been fighting with Iggy and Rina in the basement just before the wedding, and I still couldn't believe it now. We didn't even get to help! It's been years since I got to pummel an Eraser.

"Sorry Max, we got help already." Rina grinned sheepishly. "Our kids came here for a reason."

"They helped you?" Nudge gaped. "What did they do?"

"Well, Jake was in the basement with me because he was trying to protect me from getting captured in the first place. Ari 2 was about to kill Rina, but Newt and Zak built a bomb," Iggy took a moment to grin at Gazzy, his beloved partner in crime. "And got in. The three younger kids untied us, Newt healed Rina, and between Rina, Newt, and Tali, they could kill him."

"It was one genie against three." Rina shrugged. "You helped too, I've counted at least five times where you kept one of us from getting burned or hit by wine crates or whatever."

"Okay, we know, you're both heroes." Gazzy, though he had Nudge for a girlfriend, still made a face at Iggy and Rina's apparent affection. "What about the letter you got, Rina?"

"Oh, that thing." Rina groaned and sat up. "It was from the Genie Government, telling me to 'produce for us a child so he or she may be put to use as a genie'." She made air quotes and imitated the letter using a stupid voice. Call it a hunch, but I don't think she liked these people.

"So your kids are…" Angel tried to make sense of it.

"Forced, right." Iggy pulled Rina back into his lap and kissed the top of her head to keep her from sulking.

"But on the plus side, they're like half human so they can't be full genies." Nudge commented. "Mine's going to be adopted." She added more as a note to herself. I think she was secretly glad.

"Yeah, hand it to Iggy's genes to be the ones that save them." Rina smiled up at her husband.

"Hey Max?" Angel turned to me. "I was wondering, can we see what they do when we're not around? Just…because I'm curious."

"That would be my calling." Rina sat up. "This is footage from a few hours ago, alright?" In the middle of our circle, a clear circle, like a pond, formed on the floor. The maid was going to have a hard time cleaning that up. No, correction, _Tali_ was going to have a hard time. In the pond, I saw a dimly-lit attic, and the door swung open.

"Ugh, I thought they'd never believe us." Syd slammed the door to the attic.

"At least they're really nice about us lying. And they said sorry for tackling you and almost suffocating us." Shell smiled angelically at Jake. That girl really was a mini Angel, and the real Angel grinned.

"I've taught her well, apparently." She said to herself.

"Don't tell Tali I did this." Syd warned her siblings, then stole a bag of Cheetos from a hidden closet and started talking with a mouth full of orange goop. "I couldn't eat much at the reception."

"Nervous for what mom and dad would say? Me too. Can I have some?" Shell grabbed for the bag, but Syd yanked it away from her.

"My Cheetos!" She jumped onto the couch to avoid her sister.

"You have to share!" Shell scrambled after her, but Syd leaped out of the way and into the other half of the room, as divided by a closet and an old china hutch.

"Hey, gimme some of that!" Zak burst through the door and chased after the girls. "Cheetos!!! You will be mine!"

"Cheetos, you will be mine?" Syd laughed, climbing to the top bunk. "You have to do better than that!" She pulled the ladder up so neither Shell nor Zak could follow her, then stood up and looked serious, despite the fact that her head hit the ceiling. "All hail, the Cheeto Queen!"

"All hail." Shell got on her knees and started bowing. "Now share the Cheetos with your hungry subjects!"

"Here it comes!" Syd was about to toss Cheetos all over the carpet for her sister to catch, but Zak scurried up the bars at the end, grabbed the orange bag, and ran off with an evil cackle.

"I got 'em, I got- OOF!" An arm sprang out when he tried to run to the first half of the attic, and Jake grabbed Zak and held him to his chest.

"He has the Cheetos, get him!" Shell announced like a battle cry and ran for him, but Jake dodged her with Zak in his arms, and Shell skidded into the dinning room just as the door opened a third time.

"Hey, wait for me!" Syd was climbing down from the ladder, but stopped when she saw Shell run into a very exhausted Newt and Tali. "Ooh, that had to hurt."

"What's going on?" Tali moaned. From the looks of her, you'd think she had to run five miles without super-speed, if she had that power.

"We're trying to eat Cheetos, but everyone wants the bag, and I got it last, but Jake caught me." Zak told her. Jake lifted his head in acknowledgement and tried to pry the plastic bag from Zak's grip while still holding onto the kid.

"Oh, give it here." Newt stomped over and shook the bag from the kid. "They're mine, anyways." He stuffed his hand inside and was about to put a handful in his mouth, but Syd, Shell, and Zak all ran him down to the ground, where the four of them tangled together in attempts to steal the bag. The vision faded from there, and I looked up to see five highly amused faces and one half-smirk (Fang).

"You know, I think they really are related to us." Iggy grinned.

"Why did Newt and Tali look so tired?" Nudge looked around the circle for an answer.

"Iggy and I took them to meet his parents, since they asked about them at the wedding." Rina smiled an evil grin. "One of the many benefits of knowing which kids are your kids."

"What are they doing now?" Gazzy looked eager to see his kid in action.

"I think they'd be asleep now." I told him. According to Syd and Shell, Tali was very strict about things like bedtime. I don't get it, I'm her _aunt_, so how did she get to act like me?

"Because Jake's too quiet and Syd and Shell are too young." Angel responded. "Can we at least see them sleep? They were moving too fast for me to compare them to you guys."

"Hey yeah, I need to see more about Zak so I can prove to _Gazzy_," Nudge said his name teasingly. "That they have the same hair color."

"I'm telling you, he can't have my exact shade!" Gazzy snapped back, but he had a smirk, so they were playing around.

"Rina?" Fang nodded at our personal genie.

"Sure, but I'm going to need someone to sneak in their room and be our human camera." She shrugged. "Volunteers?"

"Me!" Nudge raised her hand.

"Not you, you can't be that silent." Iggy mocked.

"How about Max?" Fang suggested.

"How about not?" I protested.

"Why not?" He stared back unphased. "You're sneaky enough." Everyone agreed with him, and after I had enough of the "pleases" and "you can do its", I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. What do I do?" I turned to Rina.

"Just sneak in their attic, and I'll connect your mind to our minds so we see what you see." She explained. "Ready?"

"Sure." I said with no serious interest, and in a flash I was at the top of a rickety stairwell facing a chipped door. Sliding the door open was a little tricky because no one oiled it in the last hundred years, but once I was inside I almost jumped out when a flood of voices invaded my head. Did Jeb get in range again? And now he has company, oh that's just great. More meaningless answers and impossible tasks for all.

"_Max? It's us. We can see inside your mind now!_" Rina's voice called out among the rest. Oh good, still no Jeb.

"_Go look at Zak, Gazzy needs proof_-" Nudge started.

"_No, I need to see if Syd and Shell are exactly alike or_-" Angel tried to say.

"_Guys, one at a time_!" I had to keep from yelling. "_We'll start with Tali, because she's right there on the couch_." I directed my vision to the sleeping leader. "_One long look, and then we move on, okay?_" Six "okays" agreed, and I stood there, taking in all the information for my friends to examine.

"_That's Rina's daughter, alright_." Fang was just a bit more talkative in his thoughts, obviously.

"_I think they have the same eyes_." Nudge agreed.

"_Oh quit it, she looks like Iggy too_." Rina refused to take all the credit.

"_See that hair_?" I moved my eyes up to her highlights to help Angel prove her point. "_It's exactly like yours_."

"_Now Newt, that's a kid who's a carbon copy of Iggy_." Gazzy added.

"_But still, Tali has Iggy's skin_." I added to help Rina out. "_Rina's a bit tanner_."

"Pretty, isn't she?" This voice wasn't from me, or the Flock, and it wasn't even inside my head. Swiveling to my left, I saw Jake staring at me calmly in the makeshift doorway.

"_Jake? What's he doing here? Hold on, I'll put him to sleep…_" Rina was about to put a drowsy spell on him.

"_No, wait._" Fang stopped her. "_Let's see what he does._"

"I guess." I whispered, giving the voices in my head what they wanted. Ha, giving the voices what they wanted. Jeb better not expect the same treatment.

"So what are you here for?" Jake breathed and headed to the table behind me to pour some water.

"_Tell him you're trying to see how you and Tali could be alike. We're not involved!_" Rina prompted me.

"Trying to see how we could be alike." I pointed from me to Tali, and Jake nodded.

"You are." He held out a glass to me, which I took. It was a little dirty for a mansion like this, but speaking as someone who lived for months on the run, dirt was no problem.

"Such as?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Smart, leaders, take care of little kids." He shrugged off the ways. "Been in charge since she was born."

"_Not to mention that the mute guy has a crush on her. He likes her, guys, just listen to his thoughts!_" Rina announced with glee, and tuned us to his mind.

"_God, she really is pretty when she's asleep. I hope Newt doesn't tell her that dream I had, she'll remind me about the deal. We have to pretend we don't like each other, blah blah blah, it gets so hard._" Jake really did have a lot of thoughts about her. But I had to say something if I was supposed to be listening.

"She's the oldest, right?" I checked, remembering to keep my voice low so Tali wouldn't wake up.

"Nope." Jake sat down and took a sip. "Me, then Newt, then Tali. We just didn't want to."

"Fair enough." I smiled sympathetically and took a swig.

"You wanna see the others?" He finally asked, turning his head to the door. I nodded for the entertainment of the guys, and he lead me inside. Syd and Shell were sound on the bunk beds, with Syd snoring a little at the top. Zak and Newt were lined up on a mattress on the other wall, poor guys. Jake looked like he could hardly squeeze in there.

"_Okay Max, I got images of them, you can leave now._" Rina informed me, but I wanted to stay just a little longer and listen to them all breathe like one giant person. They reminded me of back before Rina, when we'd sleep in the forest around a fire. Sometimes you forget that feeling.

"_Max? Max, you can come back now._" Nudge finally interrupted my memories, and I shook my head and turned to Jake.

"I need to go." Here, my voice had to be even softer because of all the people.

"Fine. But tell everyone else listening in that I said hi." Jake set back for bed without a second glance, and before I could think it through, Rina teleported me back.

**There, Green.Winged.Mistress and I made a deal that I would dedicate the entire evening to updating this chapter, and it's almost midnight now (mom, dad, if you're reading this, I usually never stay up this late so relax) so I can't edit and shall have to post right now. Please don't be too hard on me for any mistakes, I'm tired and not capable of catching them now.**

**And after all my efforts, would a review be too much to ask?**

**Oh, big thing happening next chapter, don't miss it!**


	13. AN, so sorry, but please read!

**I'm SO sorry for the author's note, but I couldn't possibly email so many people and retype the explanation over and over and over. Yes, I've heard of copy/paste, but apparently my parents hardly trust me enough as it is, so I need to get to bed earlier to get on their good side, so I only have time for one attempt to let you know what's up.**

**See, my laptop has an extremely bad battery (c'mon, it drains 10 of its power in three minutes, would that not be considered bad?), and the cord connecting it to the power outlets around the house gets broken a lot. Last week, the cord broke so bad that I could hardly use my laptop for ten minutes without it shutting down. I was fairly sick of clipping the wire to my screen with a binder clip so it would charge, so I asked my dad to dissect the computer and fix the connection. While I was waiting for him to get ready, I figured I may as well password-protect some of my own word documents and stuff for a few reasons:**

**-The other day my parents gave me a talk about how people could hack into my computer and steal my very valuable work and publish it as their own, if they wanted to.**

**-My brother will read them while he's playing video games on my laptop, then he'll ask questions like "eww, is that REALLY what a kiss tastes like?" in front of every other person in the world. One word: embarrassing.**

**-Dad could be checking to see if everything on my computer is running smoothly and read some of my documents, and dad never forgets these kinds of things (like I never forget his embarrassing moments, insert evil grin here) so I'll be teased for life because I write romance.**

**Regardless of the reason, I added a password to my computer as well as my documents. Dad was so shocked to see a password that he thought I was hiding something from him, so once he got the password from me, he took away like half my programs and set up an account on my computer with a different password, and he messed up all my settings.**

**And here's the best part, somewhere in the process, he must have lost or deleted my "YOU READ YOU DIE" folder, which has all (let me repeat that: **_**ALL**_**) of my important documents, including bits of a novel I was working on, my songs and poems, plots for stories, and every bit of fanfiction I've ever posted, including what I have for the next Tali's chapter. I have an extremely vague plot in my notebook, so I'll try to retype, but god, I got like half the chapter done, and it's gone now!**

**I'm crying right now, because like some of my friends have told me, I'm gonna lose readers fast if I don't post something soon. And besides, those were my most precious documents. I'll ask dad what he can do to find them as soon as I gather enough courage, but it won't be easy. Dad still thinks I'm hiding something from him, so I'm afraid that if I do ask, he might tell me I can have my documents back after he's sure I haven't written anything that should be of concern to him. Not good.**

**Let me just close by saying again that I'm SO sorry for the delay. I miss you guys and your wonderful reviews and emails, but you'll just have to wait a little longer until I can give you something in return.**


	14. Unbelievable

**WE'RE BACK ON TRACK, PEOPLE, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!! Sorry, but I'm just so psyched. :D After some careful persuasion from me to dad, I finally got him to restore my whole computer. Basically, we have a truce, my files are back, and I'm not gonna have to reinstall every single program and rewrite every single document! Now, I have a few VERY persistent readers who want me to update already. WingsOfDestiny27 and Green.Winged.Mistress in particular owe me so big for this!! You two may as well gang up on me, chain me to the laptop, and hold a gun to the head through every letter I type. (rolls eyes) Long chapter, lucky you guys, but some explanations are necessary and all that.**

**Thank you so, so, so much for everything you guys said in your reviews, and by you guys, I mean Green.Winged.Mistress, WingsOfDestiny27, coffeelover369, Evil Angel of DOOM, Bubble Blower, MaxRideNut, and DigiNinMon, and also to S.L. Michaels for reviewing chapter 11 and everyone who offered sympathy and advice towards the whole "computer fiasco" incident. They really help with my motivation and courage, and I know I have such long chapters that the last thing you guys want to do is review when you get to the end, so just HUMONGOUS THANKS to all who did!! Now, we've got a chapter to get to.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own James Patterson's Maximum Ride. And if I did, I'd be so pressured I'd probably collapse.**

**God, I hope this idea sounds as good to you guys as it did to me.**

**Now, without further ado, I present to you the hardly-edited-because-it's-very-early-in-the-morning-and-I-don't-wanna-freaking-edit-it-so-sue-me chapter!**

**Oh, no one pay attention to how early it is. If anyone asks, I updated at nine thirty.**

**You want me to just start the chapter, don't you?**

**Chapter 13: Unbelievable**

**POV Tali**

I must have known somehow that something was wrong, because I woke up earlier than usual. It was four in the morning, and I jolted up in bed from a dream I couldn't remember. Jake's face coming closer to mine was all I could recall, but something must have interrupted us. I bet it was Newt.

Blinking to adjust to the lack of the light, I scanned the room. What could wake me up? Everything was too silent. No one was using the stairs, no one fell out of their bed, and no one was snoring besides Newt. But just to be sure, I crept over to the door, being sure not to step on the creaking floorboards.

What the hell? Only Newt was on the queen-sized bed, and frankly he looked happy to take the two spots that had once been Jake and Zak's. Syd and Shell's bunks were empty, and when I felt the blankets, they weren't even warm. How long had they been gone? Were they kidnapped??

"Ari 2's dead, Tali." I took a shaky breath and calmed myself. Mom always told us to be calm, because our kind could fix any problem and figure out anything. I knew half of everything in the world, so I could figure out where they were in a snap. Closing my eyes, I envisioned the four faces, and where they could have gone. Nothing. Now this was a problem.

"Newt!" I pounced on him, pinning him to the bed. "Where did they go?"

"Go away, sleeping." Newt threw me onto the floor with one arm. Stupid super-strength.

"Newt, they're gone, and I can't find them anywhere!" I grabbed his wrist so he couldn't toss me into the bunk beds.

"Bite me." Newt rolled over. Lazy git didn't even care where his four best friends were!

"Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak are not in this room, and I can't find them anywhere." I hissed into his ear and grabbed the hair on his head so he'd be forced to listen. "You need to find them. _Right. Now._"

"Okay, okay, chill-ax." Newt yawned and sat up, shaking his head a few times. He paused, and looked at me with a worried expression. "Tali, did you send them back home in your sleep?"

"No, you know I can control that." I told him in concern. What did he mean?

"Because they're not in this time." He bit his lip. "They're probably kidnapped by a genie or had someone take them to some other time."

"Oh god!" I fell out of the bed by myself this time. "We gotta get mom and dad and ask for help!"

"Tali, we're pretty much grown up, don't you think we can look for them here first?" Newt anchored me back onto the bed.

"But…but…" I stuttered. Jake disappeared like this before, and mom couldn't find either him or dad! Ari 2 might have a genie ally! Or the Genie Government took them in for questioning! Mom never told us if going back in time to protect your parents was legal.

"Jeez, you look around the first floor and basement, and I'll take the second floor and gardens." My incredibly calm brother headed for the door. How could he NOT imagine the consequences? These were our best friends, and they disappeared! Regardless, I may as well look with my own eyes before I panicked.

"Jake?" I poked my head in the kitchen. Maybe he was getting breakfast for us, since he was such a sweet guy.

"No, it's James, remember?" James responded from the pick-up counter.

"You're up earlier than usual." Katie greeted me from her side, but I pushed her out of my way. "Fine, don't talk to me."

"Look, sorry, but Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak are missing, and we can't find them anywhere!" I backed up just a bit to explain, and James grabbed me before I could speed off again.

"Wouldn't you know already?" He checked.

"Newt insisted we look, LET ME GO!!" I tried to pull away. Curse Newt, who got the super-strength! I needed to find them!

"Is this another Ari 2 incident?" Katie considered what I had already thought of. Knowing that she thought of that made me believe it was likelier than I thought.

"I don't know, we killed him, but maybe he had backup. Now make your boyfriend let me go!" I snarled, and Katie and James exchanged looks.

"We're siblings." James finally told me.

"We thought everyone knew that." Katie cocked her head.

"Oh." I softened for just a second, and then started twisting myself away from James. "I have to find them, they could be in danger! We can't get their signal!"

"Go find them, then!" James released me, and I almost smashed into the wall before regaining my balance.

"Good luck!" Katie's voice echoed behind me. I must have looked through the gigantic mansion in ten minutes tops when I met Newt at the stairs.

"Are they up there?" I fidgeted, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

"Nope. Maybe you're right, we should-" Newt started to agree, but I already knew he wanted me to transport us to the gardens where our families witnessed us leave just a few minutes ago in their time. I started glancing around for my guys, refusing to acknowledge the sudden unpolluted air or the fact that mom and dad knew who we were in this place. No one was around. Did they leave that early? Something was so wrong, I still couldn't find out what happened to them!

"Go to the dining room." Newt grinned, obviously knowing they were there, and I teleported us to the doors and swept them open expectantly. Jake, Syd, and Shell were seated at a huge table with Max and Fang! Jake was closest, so I hugged him happily.

"Oh, thank god you're alright!" I breathed, then straightened and beamed at Syd and Shell. "I was so worried! How did you all get here?"

"Who are you?" Fang broke the silence from the head of the table, and my smile froze. Did I really change so much that he didn't recognize us? After going through the time vortex, I thought we changed to the same age as when we left.

"It's us!" Newt came up from behind me. "Nice trick, guys, but seriously, come on. We have to figure out where Zak is."

"What are you talking about?" Syd shook her head, squinting at us. Something was different about her. She and Shell were wearing matching dresses! Syd hated dresses, Shell hated the color green on her, and besides, they never did that ever since I told them they could dress however they wanted, and not what the servants offered. Looking down at Jake, his hair was more attached to his head, like he had gel on. He even dressed neater, like he was at a semi-formal party, and…was that a _belt_? He had to be crazy. This was just some prank or something. Pretty soon they'd all yell "surprise!" and we'd laugh and go back to protect our parents, and THEN I'd punish them for freaking me out.

"Tali…" Newt put a hand on my shoulder. He looked distant, like when he was trying not to cry. "They don't know us. Really."

"Very funny." I shook him off. "You probably planned this, didn't you? Took over me and made me take them here?"

"I've got them." Max told Fang, and stood up. "You two, out."

"What the- Jake, you wouldn't do this, tell them to quit it!" I forced him from his chair and shook him. He only took it silently, like usual. When I stared into his eyes, trying to see the joke, there was something flat about them. There was no quiet awe or reassurance that he'd be there, something I'd seen for so many years that I took it for granted. He didn't…he didn't love me anymore. I choked. Oh god, it really was real. Syd and Shell really didn't recall how I'd play with them, and Jake didn't remember how we had been…how we were more than friends for one night. But I had to try, I had to try to get them know us! Something in them knew Newt and Tali Griffiths.

"No, let me go!" I screamed and pulled away when Max reached for my arm. "Don't you know me? I've lived next door my whole life!"

"That's not our house." Newt shook his head and passively accepted Max's grip. "It never was, according to them." He nodded towards the Denton family.

"Newt, don't say that! Where did it go wrong?" I turned sharply to Syd and Shell, hoping they couldn't see the tears in my eyes. "Did either of you do something?"

"We didn't do anything." Syd snapped back. She was still a little fighter, but I knew she didn't even know what I meant by "doing something".

"Are you the police or something?" Shell asked innocently.

"Don't worry, sweetie, just finish breakfast." Max calmed her daughters, put Newt and I in half-nelsons, and threw us out the double doors. "Katie, Camrina, do you mind?" She yelled down the halls, and two servant women came down the hall in matching uniforms and brown hair. My eyes widened.

"_Katie_?" I whispered incredulously. "Katie! Do you know what's going on?"

"I know that you're leaving." Katie hoisted me up by the arm and led me down the halls, with the girl named Camrina dragging Newt, who didn't bother struggling. He gave up so quickly.

"No, Katie, back when you were fourteen, you met six servants in an attic, and they were really the kids of one of your favorite books, Maximum Ride, and we're their kids, Katie, we're Rina and Iggy's kids!" I pleaded with her. She had to remember, she and James were some of the only friends who were human and knew that we were really genies/hybrids.

"What's she talking about, Katie?" Camrina turned to my captor, who only shook her head and spoke to me with harshness that couldn't be like Katie at all.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but you have to be crazy to think-"

"ZAK!" Newt bellowed and squeaked the floor to get Camrina to stop pushing him. I yanked my head to my right, and Zak stared at us from the end of the hallway wearing a backpack and looking glum.

"Don't mind them, Reid, they snuck into the mansion and started bothering the Dentons with some strange story." Camrina rolled her eyes and managed to catch Newt off guard enough that she could keep shoving him to the doors. Why was she calling him Reid? That couldn't be his name, it didn't even sound like him!

"Reid??" I repeated. "Who said his name was Reid? He's Zak! Zak, kiddo, over here!" I tried to call down the hall to him, but he rolled his eyes and disappeared behind the corner.

"No, he's Reid." Katie shook her head, hardly able to believe I could think of something so ridiculous. "He's been Reid for nine years now."

"And what exactly happened in those nine years?" I retorted fiercely. I may as well get the whole story since the one I knew must not be correct.

"His parents adopted him from California and came to work here." She summarized for me. Fortunately she decided to tell me something about him and not keep responding with sarcastic answers.

"And this is where we stop." Camrina announced and shoved us out of the gates. The pain from falling onto the gravel only added to the tears already in my eyes. Newt just sat there, recollecting his thoughts and refusing to look at me shaking my head.

"Why are you so freaking _calm??_" I finally spat at him, trying to do anything but cry. "All our friends have forgotten who we are! Oh, god, we screwed up so big, and I don't even know-"

"Not everyone forgot us, Tali." Newt grinned a lopsided grin, then stood up and started marching down the street. I sniffed, then followed him weakly.

"Where…where are you going?" I trembled. Without the adrenaline and anger fueling me, I could hardly contain myself.

"You remember Maddy, of course. She'll help us, I mean, she can't have been affected because she doesn't know us TOO much, but she'll still remember us because I told her!" Newt smiled to himself, and I shook my head disbelievingly. Of all the stupid explanations in the world-

"It's not stupid!" Newt snapped at me, then broke into a run that had to be too fast for a human, but not fast enough for a genie. Was he trying to be nice and let me catch up? I decided just to teleport myself to Maddy's, but it took much more concentration that usual to achieve that. Newt caught up to me at the porch, panting slightly.

"Man, how long has it been since I've done that?" He shook his head, then straightened up and rang the doorbell. A short woman with Maddy's red hair answered. "Hi, can I talk to Maddy please?"

"Maddy? Door!" The woman (who obviously had to be Maddy's mother) called, and a few seconds later, Maddy herself trampled down the stairs.

"Hey." Newt beamed, but his little girlfriend didn't beam back or anything. I was secretly glad, because I never got good vibes from that girl. She was too self-centered for me to like her.

"Um…hi." She answered back uneasily, her gaze sweeping over Newt (who towered over her by about a foot).

"Yeah, I came back from my trip early, but the problem is, my friends don't really remember us. We must have goofed up or something when we were back there." My brother explained coolly, while I stood there struggling not to let a tear slip. Zak didn't even muster a smile when he saw us, something he always did. Syd and Shell didn't ask me if they could do my hair, and I didn't even have that silent promise from Jake that he'd help me if I ever needed him. What kind of hell did I come back to, where my closest friends didn't know my name?? And Newt was so naïve to believe that Maddy knew what he was talking about.

"Uh…good to know them." Maddy smiled uneasily, and fingered the door anxiously. "So are you new to the neighborhood?"

"No, and I'm not brain-damaged either. Don't you…?" Newt's smile froze, and his eyes narrowed as he figured out the truth. She didn't know him. And if she ever loved him, she didn't anymore. Realizing that, Newt turned on his heel and stomped off the porch and into the middle of the street.

"Sorry, he's…he's special." I muttered the most coherent explanation I could think of, then chased after him. The shock was so great that he didn't remember that he could use super-speed. Instead, once he was hidden in a small forest, he collapsed against a tree and started to cry.

"Oh…" I breathed when I saw the teardrops. My own brother, dare I say it, my older brother by two minutes, couldn't even keep it in. Seeing him upset made the problem seem all the more huge, and the dam burst. I slid next to him and started bawling like a baby. And no, this time Jake wasn't going to show up and kiss me and make it all better. I didn't have a reputation to keep with any of these people, so I may as well sob it out anyways.

"She didn't know me!" Newt howled, then sunk into a fetal position. I cried even harder. My empathy power, weak though it was, was screaming sadness at me. By now I could hardly breathe.

We stayed curled up against that tree for an hour or so, then Newt shot up and started punching the bark out of the tree. Anger flooded through my veins thanks to him, but it balanced with the grief so I had enough control to hold Newt's shoulders.

"Newt…" I pleaded with watery eyes. "It's not worth it."

"You're right." Newt dropped his fists. "But…what can we do? Force ourselves onto them? Maybe then we can make friends again."

"No." I shook my head in despair. It wouldn't be fair to them, and it wouldn't be the same, though that was probably our best option at the moment. "Can't we just try to make things normal again?"

"There you are!" Mom stumbled up to us through the dead leaves on the ground. Newt and I looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and joy. Mom was here! "What are you two doing here, in this part of town? Tali, did you sleep-transport again? Honestly, we need to control that." She rolled her eyes, and I gaped. I've had control of that for years!

"Mom, I-" I started.

"Now come on, let's get home." She looked at me expectantly, and I stared back vacantly.

"She wants you to help her get us to the house." Newt whispered in my ear.

"What? Help? Why? Can't you do it yourself?" I cocked a head at mom.

"Tali, we've been through this already. We're late already, let's go!" Mom commanded, and I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration. "_Take us to the house we live in…wherever that is…_" I thought, and we appeared in the living room of an entirely different house than I grew up in.

"What the hell-" Newt spoke both of our minds, but mom slammed two backpacks into our hands.

"Love you," She kissed my head a little too hurriedly. "Love you," She did the same to Newt. "Good luck at school, and come on, you'll miss your bus!" She held the door open for us, tapping her foot, but Newt and I stayed frozen.

"What are you doing, mom?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You need to get to school! You two are acting so- oh no!" Mom moaned as a yellow bus tore down the street and past our house. "And Iggy has the car! Tali-"

"No, mom, we're not going to school today!" Newt raised his voice, and mom stopped cold. "We're not who you think we are. We don't know what's going on here! Let us stay home, and we'll explain everything."

"Nice try, Newt." Mom said after a slight pause. "You may not want to face the principal after you spray-painted the side of the building, but seriously-"

"No, mom, we're serious, and I'm the honest twin! Or at least, I think I am in this weird place…" I added, and Newt nodded sympathetically. "Ask us anything, I bet we won't get it right."

"Tali-"

"Just do it, mom!" Newt was almost pleading instead of forcing, something that confused me. When Newt turned to begging, it was a serious situation.

"Fine." She sighed. "What's our last name?"

"Griffiths." I answered. What kind of a question was this?

"Tali's favorite food?"

"Quiche Lorraine."

"Which I never really understood." Newt gave me a freaked-out look, and I rolled my eyes back.

"Newt, your favorite gun?" Mom fired again.

"A.K 47. Look, mom, ask us something about our pasts!" Newt groaned.

"Where did we go for spring break last year?" Mom raised her eyebrow.

"We don't know." I shook my head.

"Where did we live when you two took your first steps?"

"No clue. You're telling me we actually moved?" Newt shook his head.

"Of course we moved! Don't you…?" Mom looked over me and Newt, realizing that we really didn't know. "Are you two from a parallel dimension or something? Where are my kids??"

"That's the thing, mom. We're right here in front of you, but we came from some future other than this one." I took a shaky breath. "Can we continue somewhere else? The door, and the windows…" I eyed them anxiously, and mom nodded. She (thankfully) knew that we were still suspicious of everything because dad raised us that way. After double-checking to see if everything was locked, mom led us to the basement I didn't know we had, and had a seat in the recliner. Newt and I took the couch.

"So if you don't remember the past, then what happened?" She started.

"Well, you remember the Flock, since dad's part of the Flock, but-" Newt tried to explain, but mom held up a finger to stop him.

"What do they have to do with anything?" She bit her lip, and Newt eyed her in interest.

"I hit a nerve, apparently. So tell us, what happened to the Flock that made you so upset?" He leaned back, ready for mom's story. She shivered in dread, then exhaled uncertainly and spoke.

"We were all happy, living in Fang's mansion. Mr. Denton died sometime after Iggy and I had our honeymoon, and Fang inherited the whole business. We were all waiting for Max to have her baby, but there was something that had us a little uneasy. The rest of the Flock didn't believe that Iggy and I killed Ari 2 by ourselves, because we must have had some help. And besides, they were mad that they didn't get a piece of the action."

"But you know who helped you, right?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I remember." She gave a small smile at us. "You two, and then four other kids who were Max and Fang and Nudge and Gazzy's kids." I trembled just a bit hearing about my best friends, which mom noticed. "What's wrong?"

"We'll explain later, keep going." Newt waved her on, while I took in another breath, determined not to cry again.

"Well, one day Max and Fang talked to me and Iggy and told us that they thought we were lying about something. Of course, we couldn't tell them about you guys because you were supposed to remain undercover, so-"

"But we told them after your wedding!" Newt jumped up from the couch, astonished.

"No you didn't." Mom shook her head. "You told us specifically not to tell the Flock because bad things could happen if they knew what they were supposed to do."

"So…so because I told them and didn't listen to Tali, I saved us from not knowing each other! And _you_ wanted to keep it a secret!" Newt swiveled around to give me an evil grin. "I knew I was right, I knew it!"

"Newt, could you just…" I whimpered. The accusation was making things so much harder to take. It couldn't be my fault! I tried so hard to be careful, so it should have worked!

"Lay off your sister, Newt." Mom scolded softly, and I sent a grateful smile her way. "She misses your friends enough already."

"Fine, fine, ruin my moment of triumph, why don't ya." Newt groaned and sat back down. "So you know our story, then?"

"I'm a genie, Newt, of course I know. I only needed one minute to scan your brains."

"But considering Newt and I can only do half the scan, can you please just tell us what happened next?" I requested with a hint of begging in my voice. I had to know the whole story if I wanted to see how I could prevent it from happening.

"Why? We know what's wrong, all we have to do is go fix it." Newt shrugged.

"But I, for one, want to know the full story in case there's something else we need to know." I snapped back.

"Tali, Tali, Tali, never happy with the easy way out." My very annoying brother shook his head in mock shame.

"Newt, Newt, Newt, never happy with doing a job well." I scowled, and motioned for mom to get going before he could make a comeback.

"Alright, so after the fight, Max, Fang, Nudge, and Gazzy were mad at us because we were a family and we shouldn't keep secrets. Angel knew our secret but couldn't tell either, and she tried to convince them that we were good, but no one listened to her because they thought I controlled her mind to keep her on our side. We were pretty much split, so finally Fang kicked us out of the mansion when Iggy and I tried to fight back."

"You fought back?" Newt looked impressed. "You really punched Max in the eye?"

"I was pretty mad." Mom admitted. "Gazzy didn't want to lose his bomb buddy, but he had a grudge against me, so he was upset anyways. Max and Fang had Nudge convinced that I was actually working with Ari 2 and I got Iggy in the deal." Mom dabbed at her eye at that moment. I felt her sadness, partially because of my empathy and partially because I now knew what it felt like to have my closest friends hate me. "I cried so hard that night. We moved around a lot, mainly because we couldn't raise genie kids without having a few mishaps. You two were so bored with having no one to play with but each other. Iggy and I were never the same after that, and I…well, have I ever told you of post-trauma effects?" Newt and I shook our heads. "I was so upset with having my best friends hate me, so my powers lost half their power. That's why I needed your help to get us here, Tali. I can't do it myself, unless I really concentrate and I'm only moving me."

"I thought I was getting some hazy reception in this thing." Newt tapped his head.

"So our powers aren't as strong as they were?" I checked.

"Exactly." Mom nodded.

"What about Jake and Syd and Shell and Zak? Did you ever meet them?" The words slipped out of my mouth. If I got my arm sawed off by a crazy guy with a chainsaw, I'd probably tell my friends to run before I started screaming and crying.

"And how did they disappear from their beds?" Newt added.

"No, I didn't meet them. Jake wasn't born until a few days after Iggy and I left the mansion. Angel's sent us pictures, though, because she's trying to keep the Flock together, if only by a thread." Mom sighed, and I knew she appreciated Aunt Angel's efforts. "And she never talked about Zak because he's a servant. As for the disappearing, they couldn't be back in time with you after the time warp because they never knew you, so at midnight they sort of left. It's what happens to all humans, they go back to whatever they where doing, whenever they were doing it."

"Wait, so Zak's not a bird kid, like us?" That was probably as close as Newt ever got to a whimper. Zak was his best friend and bomb assistant, so naturally he had to feel some concern for the poor guy.

"Nope. I wasn't around to give him wings." Newt moaned at mom's words.

"So, since you never told us about Zak's past, will you tell us now so we know what's supposed to happen to him?" I requested. Hey, now was as good a time as any.

"Sure. His mom's name was Raven, otherwise known as Nudge's little sister. She had a boyfriend named Tyler, and she…well, she slept with him, and found out she was pregnant. Tyler disappeared after she told him, so she was left alone. Her parents, a.k.a Nudge's parents, of course, found out she was pregnant and helped her through the pregnancy, though they weren't happy with Raven at all. Zak was born, and his mom died from an STD, so he was left with his grandparents, who set him up for adoption."

"Wait, wait, so Zak's mom, and by Zak's mom, I mean Aunt Nudge…she's actually his _aunt?_" Newt burst out.

"Small world, huh?" Mom quirked a smile. "And he only looks like Gazzy and Nudge because Raven and Tyler looked like Gazzy and Nudge. If you and your friends were around and still together, you would have picked baby Zak up, and dropped him at the Denton doorstep for Gazzy and Nudge to take care of. But since you six weren't around to take care of that, he got adopted by a servant couple who moved to serve at the Denton mansion. Frankly, you're lucky that he's in the same city that he's supposed to grow up in, let alone the same house."

"Alright, so now that we know all that, let's go back in time and-" Newt was about to get up and leave, but I grabbed his shirt and forced him back down.

"Our powers are half as strong as they used to be!" I snapped. "How could we manage that?"

"Um…steal a time machine?" Newt hardly thought about the matter and tried to force himself up again.

"And you might need a bit of backup." Mom told us in a worried tone, and we both turned our attention to her. "The Genie Government doesn't exactly allow this kind of time-travel. It's not a good idea to go to the same place twice, and because time warped, they'll know you want to fix it and be there to meet you."

"So we're fugitives? Awesome!" Newt cheered.

"Not awesome!" I grimaced. "How could they know we warped time? No one notices a difference!"

"Yes, but we're genies, sweetie. Genies don't get affected by time warps. Why do you think you two remember what was supposed to happen and the humans don't?" Mom clarified soothingly. Well, that explained a lot.

"Ooh, ooh, Tali, idea!" Newt eagerly raised his hand, like a little kid. No, no, like…Zak. I choked when my mind found the name. I had no clue how Newt could be so energetic when this was an entirely different world that was supposed to be our home.

"Newt?" I played teacher, to play along with his enthusiasm.

"Jake, Syd, Shell, and Zak are great fighters, so they can guard us! Since your cloning power is busted and all and we'll need someone to cover while we erase some memories and make everything good again!" He rattled off his plan.

"Good one. Except Zak hasn't had Aunt Nudge and Uncle Gazzy for his parents, so he won't know how to fight."

"Then it'll be a learning experience for him. Come on, you know you want to let him come, he's our friend all the same!" He was practically on his knees by this point, and although Zak was (admittedly) a liability, I had an urge to let him come along.

"Fine. Bye mom, we gotta save our pasts!" I got up, kissed mom on the cheek, and followed Newt out the door, up the stairs, and through the backyard.

"Be careful!" Mom called after us.

"So now what?" I asked Newt while he glanced around the open field to make sure no neighbors could see us. I didn't think mom and dad would pick such a vacant place to live.

"Take out your wings, we're flying there!" Newt grinned and stretched out his amber wings to catch the sun. I practically ripped mine through my shirt. Had it really been so long that I forgot what it was like to have the wind flowing through my feathers? Newt and I did a shaky takeoff, mainly because I was still remembering how to fly. This was _not_ like riding a bike.

"So where's the Denton mansion?" I called over to Newt, who was trying to do a loop in midair.

"That way!" Newt pointed northeast, and we followed his internal navigator for a few hours. Finally, right as I was regaining my ability to fly without my wings trembling, Newt gestured to the ground, and we swooped in for a landing, trying to be as unseen as possible. We ended up in the forest between the mansion and Maddy's neighborhood. Well, Newt ended up on the ground, and I ended up in a tree.

"Just jump down, Tali!" Newt yelled up to me as I hugged the tall spruce anxiously.

"And die? No way!" I screeched back down. Newt looked like an ant down on the ground, and the branches between me and him were certainly strong enough to keep me from falling on the dirt. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, and I didn't really want to find out.

"Your powers aren't completely gone, so you can catch yourself!" He tried again.

"It'll still hurt!" I panicked, trying not to imagine the sight of my arm bent in the same funny shape as Aunt Angel's arm was at the fight at Grandma Stella and Grandpa Frank's house.

"I can't fly up and get you, you've gotta do it yourself!" Newt's eyes darted around to make sure no one heard that, and from the way they widened into saucers, I'd say someone had.

"Cool, you've got wings too!" A small girl with a backpack skipped towards him, and Newt backed away slowly. From the tangled brown mane and innocent tone, I'd say it was…_Shell_? She must have seen us on her way home from school.

"Shell!" Jake ran up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, making my heart flutter. He was so protective, and maybe even more so without me to do it for him! "Don't talk to strangers. Especially not about the wings." I wanted to smack myself in the forehead for Jake. _Don't talk to strangers?_ How did he get to be such a mentor? Oh, right, we weren't around. It had to be that Max needed him to be the babysitter.

"And this one's strange all right, he's the guy who ran in at breakfast!" Syd came up behind them.

"Oh yeah!" Shell looked like her eyes could have lit up. "Where's your friend, strange guy?"

"My name's Newt, and she's up there." Newt gestured up the tree, and everyone stared up to look at me.

"Hi…" I smiled and waved uneasily. Of all the places to make a second impression, my place had to be up a tree. "Just…admiring the view."

"Cool, how'd ya get up there?" Syd crooned. "Didja fly or climb?"

"Ha, more like she fell into it when she was trying to land!" Newt snorted, and I glared at him. "You wanna make a comeback, Tali? Come down here and say it to my face." He smirked up at me.

"Oh, I'll make a comeback, I'll- AAIEE!" I shrieked. My foot slipped on the branch as I tried to climb down, and I crashed through the branches and onto the dirt. No, wait, that wasn't dirt. I dared to open my eyes, and looked to see Jake staring at me in shock. I landed straight in his arms! My face turned as red as a lobster.

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized and let myself down. "Sorry." I repeated, brushing the bark and twigs off of my clothes.

"Wow, Jake's red! Just look at his cheeks!" Syd pointed to Jake's cheeks and giggled. Her topic, on the other hand, turned away from me and Syd, trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were a little pinker than usual.

"Shut up." He muttered.

"Syd, lay off your brother." I told her, and the Denton family froze.

"What the- how do you know my name?" Syd stuttered.

"I know all your names, actually." I stated, though my statement sounded more like an apology. "You remember this morning? We really do know you."

"So what, you're stalkers?" Syd snapped.

"Or spies?" Shell's eyebrows narrowed, something she didn't do a lot.

"Neither." Newt put an arm around my shoulder. "I'm Newt, this is Tali, and we're your long-lost friends. In fact, we're so close that we're sorta like your cousins. Sorta."

"Oh, so Aunt Ella had kids!" Shell squealed and hugged me. "But you're a lot older than we thought you'd be. And how'd you get the wings?"

"No, no, we're not Ella's kids. Did your parents ever tell you about Iggy and Rina? Yeah, we're their kids." Newt attempted to explain, and their faces hardened a bit.

"They told us that they were bad people." Shell responded. "Like, they were keeping secrets."

"Bad people?" I exclaimed, and Newt and I looked at each other. Hoo boy. "No, they weren't bad people. They kept a secret because we told them to, and that's what made your parents think our parents were bad. They were friends for most of their lives!"

"Look, this has been fun, but we have to…" Jake kept his eyes away from mine and tried to lead Syd and Shell away, but they stayed put.

"They were friends? Mom and dad never told us that!" Syd gazed at us eagerly, ready to hear the story.

"Come on Jake, can't we stay, please?" Shell gave Jake the famous Bambi eyes, and his eyes softened just a bit.

"Yeah Jake, you know you want to know if you had anything to do with my sister here." Newt gave my shoulder a squeeze, and I blushed a little. Our eyes met for the briefest of seconds, and I begged Jake to stay. Even though he hardly knew me, he seemed to listen to me anyways.

"Fine." He sighed. "But not for too long, okay?"

**Half an hour later**

"That was a _really_ long explanation." Syd broke the silence when we summed up how we knew each other and what went wrong.

"So…your mom and dad were friends with our family but then we went back in time with you and changed it? Why would we _do_ something like that?" Shell gaped.

"We didn't know we were causing it." I mumbled. Sadly, it was all too true. If there was any other way to make things back to normal, then we wouldn't be sitting on the forest floor without Zak talking about…hey, where was Zak, anyways?

"Yeah, what Tali thought, where's Zak?" Newt jerked a finger over at me, and Syd and Shell's eyes widened.

"Wow, you're really a mind-reader!" Syd's jaw dropped.

"Jake doesn't believe me though, he thinks I'm just faking." Newt nodded over to Jake, whose eyebrow twitched up. "And now he thinks I made a lucky guess."

"Prove it." Jake dared Newt, who grinned maliciously and sent a thought to him.

"What are you saying?" I glanced from Newt to Jake, but both boys ignored me.

"Liar." Jake glared after a second.

"Says who? You don't remember it. For all you know, I could be telling the truth." Newt smiled knowingly.

"Remember what??" I tried again, to no success.

"There is no way that could ever happen." Jake snarled disbelievingly.

"You thought that back then, too, but I swear it happened." Newt

"WHAT?" I shouted, and both boys finally turned to me.

"_I'm trying to convince Jake that you kissed each other. Twice._" Newt sent the thought to my mind after a brief second, and I froze.

"Well…um…thanks for not announcing it to the world." I began.

"Announcing what? It's not fair, you get to know and we don't." Syd pouted.

"Trust me, you don't want to. Jake…" I turned to my best friend (and almost-boyfriend) and smiled apologetically. "It did happen." Jake's eyes widened, and he looked over me, trying to decide if I was more trustworthy than my brother. I tried to avoid his gaze as much as I could.

"There, now you believe me. So where's Zak?" Newt smirked in his "I know something you don't know and I like it" smirk, but somehow I still knew he was worried about his little partner in destruction.

"You mean the kid who's supposed to be our friend too? He's a servant, I think." Shell shrugged, not really caring that one of the sweetest kids that I had helped take care of since he was a baby was missing.

"Hey, I think he cleaned up the ice cream I dropped last week." Syd turned to her twin.

"Yeah, but doesn't he like, work in laundry or something?" Shell added.

"Poor kid." I sighed sympathetically, and the Dentons gave me questioning looks. "Zak was assigned to laundry when we went back in time and worked at your place, and he hated it."

"So you wanna go back in time with us and help us make everything better again?" Newt offered. The three of them looked at each other, mulling it over.

"Mom and dad won't want us messing with you." Jake finally said.

"But we're not traitors!" I burst. "We're trying to fix the fight, and without you guys to defend us, nothing's going to happen!"

"So there are gonna be Erasers or something waiting for us?" Syd looked almost hopeful.

"No, but there'll be swarms of genies. Probably your biggest fight yet." Newt assured her, and Syd's eyes glazed over, dreaming of battling a genie. One down, two to go.

"But they've got tons of powers, right? Won't they hurt us?" Shell bit her lip nervously.

"C'mere." I beckoned to her, and she came close enough for me to whisper into her ear. "Don't tell this to your sister, but genies are forced by law to never purposely hurt humans, only to serve them. You're safe." Shell smiled in relief, and Newt and I turned to Jake.

"Just you left, man." Newt looked at him hopefully.

"But…how would you get us there? Your powers aren't exactly…" His gaze swept over me and Newt, and I frowned. He was right, how _would_ I get everyone back in time to fix things?

"Tali…you wouldn't have to." Newt stuffed his hands in his pockets while I stared at him with curiosity. What did he think he was talking about? "I…um…look, do you promise you won't kill me?"

"Suuure?" I drew out my answer, not sure how to take whatever he was about to say.'

"Well, you know how Jeb Batchelder is our worst enemy and all? Oh, no offence." He added to Jake, Syd, and Shell, the grandchildren of our worst enemy. "I kinda went to Maddy's place, and Jeb was there, and he offered to give me some new superpowers and stuff and I said yes. And one of the powers he gave me was time travel, and I don't think they went away because they were planted inside my brain." Oh. Their. God. How the HELL did Newt think he wouldn't get tricked or killed from trusting Jeb??

"WHAT??" I shrieked. "What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?"

"I was thinking I wanted to travel back in time to keep touch with Maddy, and you'd laugh at me if I asked!" Newt bellowed back, and my jaw dropped. My brother was an utter moron.

"Newton…Dylan…Griffiths…" My teeth clenched together, and I hissed while my hands curled into fists. He put himself into danger by lending his brain to the School, and he could have endangered our whole family, too! And he did it all to keep in contact with one meager little human.

"Hey, don't kill me, we can get to the past this way because I made a stupid decision!" Newt held his hands in front of his face in defense. When he put it that way, I didn't know whether to hammer him or hug him. Both sounded like the right thing to do.

"Newt…don't you ever do something so stupid again." I decided to let him off with a warning, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can't you just look in the future and see if I won't?" He joked, but then winced at the look I gave him. Our lack of strength was exactly what we were trying to fix, among other things. Speaking of other things, they were watching us talk with interest.

"So…now what?" Shell finally piped up.

"Well, Jake has yet to agree to help." Newt hinted to Jake, and after an instant, he shrugged.

"Sounds good." He agreed, and I smiled gratefully, which he returned.

"Now, let's go get Zak!" Newt clapped his hands anxiously and marched through the trees. The rest of us followed, but on the way out, Shell tugged at my sleeve, like old times. It took all my control to keep my bird-kid heart from overflowing with happiness.

"Why do we have to get him?" She whispered to me.

"Newt and Zak were best friends since Zak appeared at the doorstep." I explained, and we both glanced over to Newt, who was still leading the way. "He misses him more than anything, like you would miss Syd if she didn't know you." Shell nodded, right as my brother swiveled around.

"So where would he be now?" He checked.

"I think he's still at school." Syd told him. "He goes in every afternoon to talk to the school counselor, Miss Stewart."

"The…counselor?" I gawked as we headed for the school. It couldn't be right! Zak was a perfectly healthy kid, give or take an obsession with bombs. "Like the kind where you talk about your problems?"

"Yeah, that kind. I don't know how you think he's so cheery, he's almost emo. Everyone picks on him, the servants, the school kids, you know." Syd made a face, and my shoulders slumped. Poor Zak had no one to make him laugh when he was a kid.

"Well then this way, he'll finally be happy." Newt grinned confidently and yanked open the humongous double doors that led into the school. We navigated the halls flawlessly (I knew the way because I got called down a lot to be recommended to different schools, and Newt knew the way because they sent him there a couple of times to figure out why he pulled so many pranks) until we got to the counselor's office. Zak was sitting in a chair across from the door, dangling his feet and looking down at the floor. He looked so upset, so helpless, it almost made me want to act sullen with him.

"ZAK!" Surprisingly, the call came from me, and I ran up and squeezed him until his eyes were practically bulging out of his sockets.

"Help! Can't…breathe!" He gasped, and I let go. Right, right, no bird kid genes. I wished mom was powerful enough to make him a bird kid right here and now. "What are you doing here?"

"So you remember us!" Newt smiled eagerly.

"Yeah, as the people who were being dragged out of the mansion." He slumped back into his chair. "My name isn't Zak. It's Reid."

"Yeah, well, we're calling you Zak because that's what we know you as." Newt snapped back. I bet he wasn't prepared for his uncooperative attitude. "C'mon, we gotta go."

"I'm not going anywhere until Miss Stewart comes back from her meeting." Zak clamped his hands to the bottom of his chair, like we were actually going to drag him away. But from the look on Newt's face, I could see why he felt that way.

"What is it with you and this Miss Stewart lady?" Newt growled. "You're coming with us to defend me and Tali while we try to warp some minds and get everything back to normal!"

"Are you crazy people?" Zak gazed at Newt with a mixture of curiosity and fear. "There are places they can put you."

"Newt, let's not scare him." I scolded, then turned to Zak and sat on my knees so we were seeing eye to eye. "My name is Tali, and this is my twin brother, Newt. We're part genie, so we have half the powers in the world. We knew you back when you weren't adopted by two servants. You were named Zak and adopted by two good friends of our parents, but they had a fight because Newt and I took you and these guys," I nodded back to Jake, Syd, and Shell. "Back in time to get our parents dating and made a mistake, and now you don't know us, but we know you. We're long-lost friends, all five of us."

"Trust me, it's a lot to get used to, but they showed us some powers of theirs and they're telling the truth!" Syd took a step forward, and I smiled gratefully. Who could ask for a better kid in a time like this?

"You three?" Zak raised an eyebrow disbelievingly at the Denton family. "You're my masters, you control me and my family. You're lying!" He turned to me and Newt. "You can't be telling the truth, I was adopted in California and I worked for most of my life, and you're telling me you're really my long-lost best friends and my name is really Zak!"

"Ever hear your masters talking about Iggy and Rina? Well, that's us, their kids! And your parents are really Gazzy and Nudge. So nice try, but we really are friends. Come with us before I make you!" Newt snarled, now in Zak's face. That was just low, threatening a little kid.

"Newt?" A different, adult voice echoed from the corner, and a woman slightly taller than I stepped into the corridor, revealing her angelic blonde curls and clothes that made her look like a lawyer. "Tali?"

"Miss Stewart? You're crazy too?" Zak cocked his head.

"Aunt Angel!" Syd and Shell yelled at the same time, and they ran to hug her. Aunt Angel accepted the hugs blankly, still staring at us for answers.

"_Aunt Angel?_" Newt asked incredulously, and our jaws dropped.

"What are you doing here? Iggy and Rina said they didn't want you two to meet…the rest of us." Aunt Angel gaped at us in shock.

"Why would they say that?" I finally gathered words together.

"Because of the fight!" She responded, and Zak jumped down from his chair.

"So they're telling the truth?" He pointed accusingly at us.

"Yes Reid, yes they are. Step into my office, please, all of you." Aunt Angel shook free from her nieces' grips, and held the door open. We filed in at once, ready to explain.

**Okay, bad ending, but I had to end it **_**somewhere**_**, because I wanted to update before spring break was over, and it's the last day of spring break. Aww, now I gotta go back to school!! :( Well, reviews would be highly appreciated, if anyone wants to sympathize. Doubt it, but hey, I can hope.**


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